


Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die

by SaltyPastry



Category: IT (2017), Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood Drinking, Blood and Gore, Crossover, Dead Georgie Denbrough, Emo Mike Wheeler, High School, Multi, Non-Consensual Blood Drinking, Oblivious Mike Wheeler, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Richie is fun to write, Santa Carla (Lost Boys), The Losers Club are all nerds, The Party are vampires, This is mainly from Eddie's point of view, This takes place in 1987, Will Byers Loves Mike Wheeler, Will Byers is a jerk in this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-09-26
Packaged: 2019-04-29 04:07:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 32,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14464668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaltyPastry/pseuds/SaltyPastry
Summary: Welcome to Santa Carla, the Murder Capital of the World. When childhood friends Eddie and Richie moved down to California from small town Derry, Maine, they aren't expecting much. Neither of them would have believed they would be caught up in a world of missing flyers, mauled bodies, and a strange group of teenagers that are definitely not what they seem to be at all.





	1. Chapter 1

   _October 1985_

  “Come on, Billy, catch up!” Georgie laughed, running ahead of his older brother. His feet hit the wooden planks of the Santa Carla Boardwalk as he slipped through the crowds of people entering the amusement park.

  “G-Georgie, s-slow d-d-down!” Bill Denbrough pushed people back. “I-I-I don’t want to l-lose y-you!”

  Georgie stopped and turned, waiting impatiently for him. Bill ran over, panting. “G-Geez, G-Georgie, how are y-y-you so f-fast?”

  “Your just too slow!” Georgie took Bill’s hand and tugged at it. “Come on, come on, I want to go on a ride!”

  Bill chuckled, allowing the six-year-old to pull him along to the heart of the boardwalk. “W-W-What r-r-ru-ride do you want to d-do?”

  “The rollercoaster!” Georgie squealed. He pointed up at the Giant Dipper, illuminated against the backdrop of the night sky. “Let’s do it twice!”

  “W-Woah, woah, w-w-woah, h-h-hold your h-h-horses.” Bill dragged Georgie to a stop. “M-Mom said we c-can o-only ride g-g-gentle rides, remember?”

  Georgie remembered, all right. He had really been hoping Bill would forget. “Aw, come on, Billy, it looks fun! I won’t throw up, I promise!”

  “N-Not taking a-a-any chances.” Bill began walking over to a row of carnival games. “L-L-Let’s play a g-game.”

  Georgie scowled, but reluctantly gave in. “Fine.”

  The two young Denbroughs headed over to a ring toss. Bill paid for two games each. “Y-Y-You want to go f-f-first?”

  Georgie brightened, all thoughts on the rollercoaster forgotten. “Yeah!”

  “Step right up, young man!” The game host grinned as he handed Georgie three large rings. “Get a ring over a clown, and you win a prize!”

  Georgie squinted at the plastic clowns. They stood there with jeering grins, each holding a red balloon. He poked his tongue out of the corner of his mouth, leaned back, and threw.

  The ring went spiraling through the air, falling over the middle clown on the first try. “YES!” Georgie cried. He jumped up and down, punching Bill’s side. “Did you see that, Billy? I got it, I got it!”

  Bill high-fived him. “N-N-Nice shot!”

  The game host nodded approvingly. “That was great, kid! Congrats, you win either a stuffed animal or a giant bouncy ball.” He gestured up to the prizes.

  Georgie pointed at a ball. It was blue and white, with little paper boats all over it. “Can I get that one?” he asked.

  “Sure can!” The host reached up and clipped it off the ceiling. He handed it to Georgie. “Enjoy!”

  Georgie threw it to the ground, giggling as it bounced way up high. He caught it in his hands, then bounced it again.

  This time, the ball went rolling away into the crowd.

  “No!” Georgie yelled. He bolted after it. The ball went bouncing toward the beach, rolling down the old wooden steps. Georgie raced down them, catching the ball right before it disappeared under the pier.

  He let out a relieved breath, turning to head back up to the games.

  “What are you doing down here all alone, kid?”

  The voice made him jump almost as high as the ball. Georgie whirled around.

  Leaning against one of the large wooden masts that held the boardwalk up was a person. Georgie couldn’t get a good look at them: it was too dark, and the stranger was dressed in all black, but by the sound of their voice, he guessed they were Bill’s age.

“W-Who’s there?” he said nervously.

  The figure shifted into the moonlight pouring out onto the beach. Sure enough, it was an older kid. His hazel eyes seemed to glow as he stepped toward Georgie. It made his stomach flutter with unease.

  “What’s your name?” The boy had a cigarette between his fingers. Georgie knew Bill would never smoke, but apparently it was a popular thing to do as you got older. Perhaps this boy even knew Bill?

  No. This boy felt off. And Georgie had met all of Bill’s friends. This boy wasn’t one of them.

  “I’m not supposed to talk to strangers,” he said. “My dad said so.” He peered up at the kid’s face. “What’s _your_ name?”

  The boy brought the cigarette to his lips. “William.”

  “Oh.” Well, then. At least it wasn’t something creepy. William sounded pretty normal. Georgie held his ball close to his chest, backing up a few steps. “What’re you doing out here alone?”

  William shrugged. “Had a run-in with some not-so-nice people. Needed a place to hide for a while.”

  “Who were they?” Georgie asked.

  “None of your business.” He let out a puff of smoke and regarded Georgie with those strange eyes. “You didn’t answer my question. Come on, I told you my name, the least you can do is tell me yours.”

  Georgie hesitated. “It’s Georgie,” he mumbled.

  “Georgie, huh?” William smiled. “Nice name. I like it.”

  Georgie perked up. “Thanks!”

  “So, Georgie, what are you doing here? You lost something or whatever?”

  Georgie held up the ball. “I almost lost this. But don’t worry, I got it before it bounced away.”

  “Your parents here with you?”

  “No. Just my brother.” Georgie tilted his head. “Do you know Billy? He may go to school with you.”

  “Billy. Hmmm, Billy…” William closed his eyes, then opened them again. “Kind of rings a bell. Is he tall, brown hair, has a stutter?”

  “Yes, that’s him!” Georgie nodded enthusiastically. “Do you know him? Wanna go see him now? He must be really worried about where I am.” Georgie frowned, realizing he had just left Bill behind at the games.

  “No, that’s okay. Maybe later.” William’s eyes shone. “Do you believe in monsters?”

  Georgie snorted. “No. Billy taught me monsters aren’t real. They’re make-believe.”

  William was edging toward Georgie gradually. “You should.”

  Georgie swallowed hard. The air around them was suddenly stifling, making it hard to breathe. “I should what?”

  “Believe in monsters.”

  He was close now, looming over Georgie like a shadow. Georgie gulped, stepping back. The taller boy’s body gave off a strange chill. “W-Why should I believe in monsters?”

  William smiled a terrifying smile that made Georgie want to scream. “Because I _am_ one.”

  And that was the last thing he said before lunging at Georgie, hauling him under the pier, and biting into his neck.

 

  “G-G-Georgie!” Bill cried. He turned in a frantic circle, scanning the masses of people passing by. “Georgie, w-where are y-you?” There was no sign of his little brother anywhere, and Bill was beginning to panic. He ran a hand through his hair, jogging back over to the games. _Stay calm, stay calm. It’s alright, he’s probably just lost. You’ll find him, don’t worry._

  “H-Have you s-s-seen my brother?” he asked the game host. “W-W-We just played your g-game, and-”

   At that moment, Bill heard a noise that made his blood run cold.

   He heard Georgie screaming.

   It was coming from the beach. Bill bolted, running desperately down the steps. He pelted across the sand, skidding to a halt when Georgie’s cries were abruptly cut off. The soles of his shoes were suddenly slightly moist.

   Bill looked down. His heart lurched.

   The sand was covered in _blood_.

   It was seeping out from under the pier. Bill swallowed hard, stepping carefully into the darkness. The scent of the blood made his head spin and his pulse race. Hands shaking, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out the mini flashlight he always carried with him, switching it on.

   What he saw next made him want to vomit.

   Georgie was dead. His young face was a mess of hurt and anguish, his eyes glassy and unfocused. His mouth was open in a silent, terrified scream. A puddle of blood pooled underneath him, turning the sand sticky and red. Bite marks were all over his neck and shoulders, tears in his shirt revealing chunks of his skin ripped out in large wounds.

   His entire left arm was gone.

   Bill lurched back, covering his mouth as he held his stomach and gagged. Tears sprang to his eyes as he let out a sob; his brother was _gone_. His brother was _dead_. The world was crashing down upon him, the shards piercing into his heart. There was something humanoid shuffling around Georgie’s body. It lifted its head and stared at him, and Bill felt like he was going to pass out.

   It’s ears were pointed.

   It’s eyes were red.

   And it had fangs.

 


	2. Chapter 2

_Tuesday, October 6th, 1987_  

  He sat quietly in the airport, watching the people disembark from the plane. Eddie Kasprack sighed, gazing mournfully out the terminal window. He was far from his hometown, Derry far gone. Now, he was in Augusta, waiting for his flight to his new home. Next to him, his mother was talking to a man by the name of Phil. Phil was in his late 40’s, with an unmemorable face and an even more unmemorable personality. His mother had seen something in him, though, and they were now dating. Phil had then convinced her to move in with him in California, in a town called Santa Carla. Eddie had never heard of it, and, quite honestly, didn’t want anything to do with it. Derry had its flaws, but it was home. He was leaving everything he cared about behind.

  _My room. My school. My friend…_ Eddie leaned back and closed his eyes. He was not a popular person, but one kid his age had taken a liking to him. Richie Tozier, a tall, skinny boy with a galaxy of freckles on his cheeks, large glasses, and wild black curls, best friends with him since the first grade. The sixteen-year-old cursed like crazy, and didn’t have the best taste in fashion, and, oh god, was _horrible_ at talking to girls, but he was the funniest, most bubbly personality Eddie had ever known. It wasn’t going to be easy living without him.

  “Eds.”

  Eddie felt his eyes grow moist with tears. He held them down.

  “Eds!”

  It was almost as if he could still hear Richie’s voice.

  “Eddie!” Two strong hands gripped Eddie’s shoulders and shook him slightly. Eddie yelped, eyes shooting open as he jerked forward. His mouth dropped open in shock.

  “R-Richie?”

  The other boy grinned down at him. He hauled Eddie to his feet and gave him a bone-crushing hug. “What’s up, Eddie Spaghetti? Hope you haven’t been missing me too much, because I have news for you!”

  “Richie, get _off_!” Eddie shoved him away, gasping for breath when he freed himself. “What do you mean, news? It better not be anything-” He stopped short when he noticed Richie’s mother walking briskly up to his mom. The two of them greeted each other, and Mrs. Kasprack pulled Phil over to meet Mrs. Tozier. Eddie heard snippets of their conversation.

  “...Yes, moving to California…”

  “...Santa Carla? Us too!”

  “...murder capital of the world, that’s what I heard…”

  “...Richie and Eddie can look out for each other…”

  Eddie gaped, his mouth a prefect “O”. “Y-Your moving to Santa Carla, too?”

  Richie spread his arms wide, smiling like a maniac. “Yep, you guessed it! My dad got a job down at some boring company I couldn’t give two shits about, and I was ready to fucking kill myself, but then I heard you were moving down there, too, and my will to live was restored!”

  “But-But why didn’t you tell me you were also moving?”

  “Wanted to keep it a surprise. I absolutely love that adorable little shocked face of yours, Eds.” Richie’s eyes twinkled mischievously.

  Eddie felt his cheeks heat up. He took his inhaler out of his pocket and puffed into it a few times. “Stop calling me Eds, Rich, you know I hate it.”

  “So, are you excited?” Richie’s face fell slightly. “Aren’t you glad I’m coming, too? It’ll be like nothing’s changed!”

  “Richie, I am honestly really, really happy your moving, too.” Eddie smiled up at him. “This has got to be, like, some cosmic force’s doing, the two of us moving down to the same town at the same time.”

  “Looks like we were destined to be together forever,” Richie said, winking.

  Eddie punched his shoulder, resisting the urge to reply sharply. Richie laughed, hugging him again. Eddie’s entire view of his situation changed. He had his best friend by his side. And he knew that as long as Richie was with him, he could do anything. They were unstoppable together.

  It didn’t even cross his mind that he was heading straight into a town where more people died than lived, and he was bringing Richie right along with him.


	3. Chapter 3

“Well, this place is an absolute shithole,” Richie huffed as him and Eddie walked through the crowded streets of Santa Carla. “I actually kind of miss Derry. It was better than _this_ town.”

 Eddie had to admit, he agreed with him. He hadn’t discovered a single thing to like about his new home since he got off the plane. They had landed a little before noon, and their parents had allowed them to explore the town and check it out.

 “Wanna get some grub?” Richie asked. “Maybe the pizza _won’t_ have mold on it.”

 “Don’t say that, I’m sure the pizza’s fine.” Eddie shoved his shoulder playfully. “Maybe their Italian food is their best kept secret.”

 Richie snorted. “Doubt it. A fucking water buffalo wouldn’t eat in one of these restaurants.”

 They chose an average looking pizza parlor called “Tony’s Pizza”. It seemed nice, as far as your run-of-the-mill town pizza parlors got. Eddie was happy to see that it was clean, not a single rat scuttling across the floor.

 “Hey, look at this,” Richie said. He was pointing to a large billboard that was hung up on the window. Tacked onto it were numerous flyers. Eddie walked closer to see what they were for.

 His stomach gave a lurch.

 They were _missing posters_.

 Tons of them, all tacked over each other, names in big bold letters at the top of each one. Eddie took one off the board and examined it. It was for a little boy that looked no younger than six years old. MISSING, it read. GEORGE DENBROUGH. IF FOUND, PLEASE REPORT TO SANTA CARLA POLICE.

 “Damn,” Richie breathed. “Is this why the houses down here are so cheap? What, did the Zodiac Killer decide to retire here?”

 “That isn’t funny,” Eddie said. “These people could be dead.” He put George Denbrough’s flyer back on the board and pulled off another one. This was for a creepy-looking teenager named Patrick Hockstetter.

 “Come on, let’s get pizza, Eds, I’m starving.” Richie didn’t seem the least bit disturbed by the flyers as Eddie was. He walked up to the counter, sitting on one of the chairs.

 Eddie put the flyer back and turned, then crashed into another person.

 “Hey!” a sharp, feminine voice snarled. “Watch where you're going!”

 Eddie flinched, backing up a bit. “O-Oh, I’m sorry. I-I didn’t mean to-”

 “What’s that?” The girl stepped into his face, her startling blue eyes boring into his chocolate brown ones. She looked like she was Eddie’s age, with long ginger hair and pale skin. She was clad in black, with heavy combat boots that thumped loudly against the floor whenever she walked. If intimidation could be personified into a human being, it would be this person in front of him.

 “Uh, excuse me!” Richie barked. “Get the fuck away from him!” He yanked Eddie over to the counter, glaring at the girl with a ferocity he had never seen in him before. “You were the one who bumped into him. I think _you_ owe us an apology!”

 The girl crossed her arms, leaning back. “I’m not giving any apology to you _or_ him, Coke Cans. Go buy a decent pair of glasses sometime.” She pushed past them, stomping off into the back of the restaurant.

 Richie pushed his glasses up his nose. “Now what the fuck was that for? Jerk,” he grumbled.

 “Don’t listen to her-whoever she is. I think your glasses are great.” Eddie sat down at the counter next to his friend. “They make you look smart.”

 Richie beamed, running a hand through his hair. “Shit, you think so, Eds?”

 Eddie rolled his eyes and looked down at the menu the waiter had given them. “Stop calling me that, I hate it. And yes, I think so. Glasses on _that_ girl would make her look like a freak.”

 Richie laughed, turning to his menu. “Ah, you're so right, Eds! Your so incredibly right!”

 

 After they had eaten, they decided to check out the boardwalk. Richie had been begging him to go all day, and Eddie had kept putting it off, not liking the idea of walking into a place ridden with germs and gum stuck to the ground, with little kids sneezing and screaming and crying. Richie couldn’t care less about these things, though, insisting they look it over to see if it was worth wasting their money on.

 “Wow, get a load of that coaster,” Richie whistled. A large rollercoaster rose up above them as they walked through the amusement park. Eddie could hear people screaming as the ride whooshed over the tracks.

 “The Giant Dipper,” Richie read. “Wow, that sounds fun. Wanna give it a go, Eds?”

 Eddie wrinkled his nose. “No. I don’t feel like throwing up today.” He turned and spotted a carousel. “That looks more like my speed. Let’s try it out.”

 “The carousel?” Richie stuck out his tongue. “Blagh, BORING. What’s so fun about a carousel? It’s just a fucking wheel that goes in a circle. No, I rather ride the Giant Dipper. Let’s do it, Eddie, come on!”

 Eddie shook his head. “No! I’m not riding the Giant Dipper!”

 Richie’s eyebrows raised. A sly grin slowly grew on his face. “Then why don’t you ride my Giant Di-”

 He was cut short when someone shoved him savagely to the ground. Eddie gasped, running over to him and helping him up. “Richie, are you okay?”

 Richie grunted, slowly standing up. Blood trickled down from his chin. “Y-Yeah, I’m fine, Eds. Don’t worry, it’s nothing.”

 “Aw, you call him Eds? That’s so _cute_.”

 Eddie stiffened. Him and Richie turned to find themselves facing the same girl from the pizza parlor. Only this time, she wasn’t alone. Two other kids were with her, giving them evil glares. One was a girl with smoothed back short brown hair, dressed in a black oversized jacket and beat up converse sneakers and jeans, her intense eyes and black eyeliner making her appear straight up terrifying. She looked as if she could break Eddie’s neck just by staring at him long enough.

 The other was a boy, shorter than the other two, yet just as menacing. He had shaggy brown hair shaped into a bowl cut, the same black jacket as the new girl, and black leather pants. He had a white The Clash t-shirt on under the jacket. A cigarette poked out of one end of his mouth. While the girls looked dangerous, this boy looked absolutely deadly. He certainly wasn’t someone Eddie would want to run into in the middle of the night.

 “Oh,  _god_ , not  _you_ again,” Richie moaned.

 The girl’s eyes narrowed. “Watch the way you talk, new kid. My friends and I won’t tolerate it.”

 “Uh, w-who are you?” Eddie asked, unable to keep the nervousness out of his voice. “Why did you push Richie?”

 The girl gasped in mock horror. “ _I_ didn’t push him. He must have tripped! How _dare_ you accuse me like that? I think you owe _us_ an apology!”

 Richie winced, recognizing his own words. “Ouch, dude. That’s  _not_ cool. I was just helping my friend out.”

 The girl shrugged. “Yeah, I can see that. And I respect someone who looks out for their own, so I’m gonna let it slide today.” She stuck out her hand. “I’m Max. This is Jane, total badass, could kill you under five seconds, and Will. Don’t mess with Will. Like, seriously, don’t. He’ll murder you. Literally.”

 Eddie glanced at Will uneasily. The other boy gave him a devious grin.

 Richie hesitated, then took Max’s hand and shook it. “I’m Richie, and this is Eddie. We just moved here today. Thanks for giving me a bloody lip.”

 “Yeah, sorry about that,” Max said, not sounding sorry at all. “Listen, we gotta go, but maybe we’ll see you around. Maybe we can all ride the ferris wheel together.”

 Jane and Will snickered. Eddie tilted his head, wondering what was so funny about simply riding an amusement park attraction.

 “Yeah, sure, that sounds good.” Richie nodded. “May take you up on that.”

 Max nodded, then pushed past them. Jane and Will followed, but not before Will stopped and leaned in close to Eddie’s ear. “When she invites you to ride the ferris wheel, that means she wants to eat you.” He grinned evilly at Eddie again, before jogging off to catch up to his friends.

 

 

        


	4. Chapter 4

  The next day, Eddie woke up with a pit of anxiety in his stomach. He had been dreading school ever since they got to Santa Carla. It was terrifying, starting completely fresh in a new atmosphere, having to meet new friends and new teachers. The thought of Richie being with him the entire time had been relieving, somewhat. He felt a little less stressed when he got up that Monday morning.

Though, nothing ends up being stress-less when Richie Tozier is involved.

“Boy, this is gonna be good, Eds!” Richie rambled. “New school! New people! Maybe it won’t be as shitty as Derry Middle School!”

“Stop calling me Eds!” Eddie hissed. His eyes darted everywhere as they got off the bus. “Someone will hear you!”

“Embarrassed to know me, Eds?” Richie asked, half-jokingly, half-serious.

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Oh, yes, totally. I can’t stand you.”

“Just like you can’t stand my damn good looks?” Richie whispered. He laughed when Eddie punched him in the arm, the smaller boy’s cheeks flushing red.

Santa Carla High was loud and crowded, with kids everywhere. Talking, yelling, laughing, screaming, it was exactly how Eddie had imagined it. Someone was blaring _Rock You Like A Hurricane_ by the Scorpions through a boom box. The smell of cigarettes, colon, perfume, and fast food hit Eddie’s nose like a truck.

Richie frowned. “Wow,” he said. “This is exactly how I thought this place would be like.”

“I hear you.” They walked through the halls, squeezing through groups of kids. “It’s worse than Derry.”

“It’s clean, though.” Richie ran his fingers over the windows, examining them for dust. “I know you like it clean.”

They went to the principal’s office to see what they were supposed to do. The principal was a tough-looking man, with hard eyes and a tight mouth. He gave them their locker locations and combinations, then handed them their schedules.

“Looks like we have every class together,” Richie said. He breathed out. “Thank god.”

They went to their lockers, which happened to be right next to each other. Eddie squinted down at his combination.

A sudden murmuring and whispering from everyone around him made him look up. People were parting to the side, clearing the center of the hallway. They were looking to the right, some with eyes wide and curious, others fearful.

“What’s happening?” Richie asked.

“I don’t know,” Eddie replied.

Then, he saw them. Eddie felt his blood run cold.

Walking through the hallway were two people. One of them was Jane, the girl from the boardwalk, the other person who had been with Max and Will. She wore the same thing she had worn yesterday, her hands shoved into the pockets of her coat.

Next to her was a boy, a tall boy that was also decked out in black. His features were creepily similar to Richie, yet also different; his raven-black hair was wavy, not curly, and he had a cruel look in his eyes. He wore a black leather jacket and a white undershirt, the silver buttons gleaming through the dark clothing. His arm was around her shoulder, and they were smiling and laughing, but not in a way Eddie liked. A cigarette bobbed in his mouth as he talked.

The boy’s focus landed on him, pinning Eddie under his gaze, making him feel uncomfortable on the inside. He smirked, a devilish grin crossing his face as they past. Eddie stared after him, watching the crowd swallow them up as they left. When they were gone, kids gathering in clumps, whispering and looking at where they went.

“I fucking hate that kid,” Richie said.

Eddie didn’t stay anything. The first period bell rang.

 

Later that day, Eddie and Richie sat in the cafeteria. They were staring at a table of black clothes and unkind faces, watching Max’s group of buddies eat. Each of them had a water bottle filled withfruit punch, and they were eating sandwiches drowned in ketchup. Eddie noticed how no one sat near them; they had the whole area near the left corner to themselves.

“They’re so creepy,” Richie murmured. He bit into his bagel. “Why does no one sit around them? Why is everyone afraid of them?”

“B-Because being a-a-afraid of t-them i-is a s-s-smart m-move.”

They both jumped. Eddie turned and found himself looking up at a boy with wispy brown hair and tired looking eyes. Next to him was a tall boy with curly blonde locks and a serious expression.

“C-Can we s-s-sit w-with y-y-you?” the brown-haired boy asked.

“Uh, sure.” Richie nodded slowly. “Knock yourselves out.”

The two kids sat across from them. The first one smiled. “I-I-I’m Bill. T-This is m-m-my best f-f-friend S-Stanley.” The second boy gave them a quick smile before looking back at Max and her friends. “W-We noticed you g-guys j-just moved h-h-here. T-Thought maybe we could g-g-give you a t-tour.”

“I’m Eddie, and this is Richie.” Eddie shook Bill’s hand. “And that would be great, we’d love a tour.”

The four of them talked, and Eddie found himself liking Bill and Stanley. They weren’t like Max, Will, and Jane; these two were kind, with warm personalities and good things to say. Not to mention they didn’t wear black.

“Hey, Stanley,” Richie said. He leaned forward and jerked his head toward Max’s table. “What’s up with the teenage biker gang over there?”

Stanley exchanged a glance with Bill, before turning back to him. “Not much is known about them,” he whispered. “All anyone knows is that they live in a large warehouse on 6th street.”

“A warehouse?” Eddie echoed. Stanley nodded. “They call themselves the Party. No one knows why they come to school, they never do anything but cause trouble. The principal hates them, but for some reason, won’t kick them out.”

“B-Because he’s s-s-scared of t-t-them, just l-lu-like e-everyone else,” Bill said. “And he s-s-should be. We a-all should. They’re b-bu-bad people.”

“What have they done?” Richie asked.

Stanley and Bill glanced at each other before dropping their voices. “You guys have seen the missing posters, right?”

Eddie nodded, remembering the billboard in the pizza parlor. “This place is nicknamed the Murder Capital of the World. I can now see why.”

“We think the Party’s the ones behind the murders.”

“Wait.” Eddie’s eyes widened. “You think a bunch of kids like us are killing off people in this city? Where would you get an idea like that?”

Bill was silent. He suddenly got up. “I-I-I gotta g-go.” He gave them a weak smile. “I’ll s-s-see you l-later, S-Stan. E-Eddie, R-Richie, it was n-n-nice meeting y-you.”

Eddie watched him leave the cafeteria. Richie clucked his tongue. “What’s up with him?”

Stanley sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Everyone in school knows, so I don’t see why you guys can’t know, either.” He sat forward. “Bill had a brother. His name was George, but we all called him Georgie. He was this sweet little kid that you couldn’t help but like. Him and Bill were inseparable.”

Eddie remembered the missing sign from yesterday. He suddenly didn’t want to hear this story, anymore.

“One day, Georgie went missing. The next day, he was found dead.” Stanley’s voice cracked. “Bite marks all over his body. His entire left arm completely ripped off.”

“Shit,” Richie breathed. He glanced at the Party. “How does that connect to them?”

“Bill won’t tell anyone,” Stanley replied. “He was there when Georgie was killed. They were at the boardwalk, and got separated. It was Bill who found Georgie’s body. He refuses to talk about what he saw. All he says is that it was the Party who took him. And a part of him still believes Georgie will come back one day. Even though he’s been dead for two years.”

They were silent after that. Eddie felt uncomfortable, being so close to Georgie’s possible murderers. The bell signaling the end of the lunch period rang. Stanley sighed, then got up and gathered his things. “I’ll see you guys later. If you want, you can hang out with us after school. The others will like you, I can tell.”

“Thanks Stanley,” Richie said. “Where should we meet you?”

“Head to 24 Highland Drive. That’s our friend Ben’s house. We always hang out there, it’s like our hideout.” He smiled. “See you.”

Eddie got up. “Let’s go, Richie. We have math next.”

“UGH, MATH.” Richie groaned. “I fucking HATE math.”

As they left the cafeteria, Eddie caught a glimpse of the Party. They were staring at him, watching. It sent chills down Eddie’s spine.

Maybe Bill was right. Perhaps they were behind the murders, after all.


	5. Chapter 5

  24 Highland Drive was a quaint, friendly looking home with a clean-cut lawn and neatly placed flowerbeds all around the perimeter of the house. Eddie quickly thanked his mother for driving him and Richie before hopping out of her car.

  “Aren’t you forgetting something, Eddiebear?” his mother asked, her shrill voice making Eddie wince. He closed his eyes for a second, taking in a deep breath before turning back and kissing her on the cheek.

  Richie let out a snicker. “Do you want one from me, too, Mrs. K?” he called as Eddie shoved him away from the car and up the front steps.

  Mrs. Kasprack scoffed, stepping on the pedal and driving away. Eddie decided to ignore Richie’s little comment for now and leave the future scolding for later. The kid never knew when to shut his damn mouth.

  Richie made a face when he saw the numerous garden gnomes standing by the door. “Never trust a garden gnome collector,” he said wisely. “They always end up being pedofiles.”

  Eddie rolled his eyes and turned back to the door. He rang the doorbell. Soft chimes could be heard inside.

  There was a scuffling, and a plump, kind-looking woman opened the door. She radiated a large smile when she saw them. “Oh, you must be here for Ben! Richie and Eddie, yes?”

  Eddie nodded. “Er, yes, we are. Is he home?”

  “Yes, yes, of course he is! Come in, come in!” The woman stepped aside, allowing Richie and Eddie to enter the charming little house. “I’m Mrs. Hanscom, by the way. Stanley told me all about you two. Just moved here from Maine, didn’t you?”

  “Yes,” Richie said. “From Derry.”

  “Oh, _Derry_! Yes, I know it well! Used to have a cousin who lived up in Derry. I don’t know what happened to her, but last I heard, she married a drunkard and moved up to Seattle. He claimed he was a bigtime movie star, but just turned out to be a delinquent from New York.” She laughed. “Can’t control your family, you know? Sometimes they just go down the wrong path!”

  Eddie nodded absentmindedly. He had a feeling Mrs. Hanscom was the type of person who could ramble on for hours without noticing everyone she was previously speaking to had left the room.

 “Ben and his friends are in his room,” Mrs. Hanscom said. “Tell him milk and cookies will be up in a minute. Oh, and one more thing.” She leaned forward, eyes twinkling. “Don’t let that Beverly Marsh girl intimidate you. I’ve heard some rumors, but I honestly don’t believe their true, she’s such a sweet girl.” She hurried them down a hallway. “Go on, go on! Remember, cookies and milk in a minute!”

 When she was gone, Richie let out a whistle. “Damn, Ben’s got a girl?”

 Eddie punched him. “Shut up and try to be polite.” He headed down the hallway, peeking hesitantly into a room.

 Five kids were in there, seated on the floor. Their heads all shot up when Eddie knocked quietly on the wall. “Uh, hello?” he said. “Is this Ben’s room?”

 “E-E-Eddie!” Bill stood up, followed by Stanley and the rest of the kids. “Y-Y-You came!”

 “Of course we came, you invited us.” Eddie walked in, smiling. “I’m glad to know we’re at the right place.”

 “Are these the two you were telling us about?” a lanky girl asked Bill. She had short ginger curls, with freckles almost as numerous as Richie’s dotting her face and arms. She stuck out her hand. “I’m Beverly. It’s nice to meet you.”

 Eddie took her hand and shook it. “Eddie Kasprack. Nice to meet you, too.”

 He felt the presence of Richie as he sidled up to his side. “Hey,” he said. “I’m Richie. But you can call me the boy of your _dreams_.”

 Beverly looked slightly disgusted. “Uh, no thanks.”

 “Seriously?” Richie gestured to himself. “Your refusing _this_? Damn, that’s a first. You California girls are hard to get.”

 He earned himself a savage jab in the ribs by Eddie. Beverly had an amused smile on her face.

 “I’m so sorry about him,” he said. “Richie has a horrible habit of saying stuff that’s only hilarious to himself.”

 “That is an incorrect statement,” Richie said.

 “He’s basically begging to get his ass kicked by someone,” Eddie continued.

 “Again, wrong.”

 Eddie sighed. “I think I regret being glad you moved down to the same town as me.”

 “ _Gasp_!” Richie cried in mock offense. “How could you betray me like this, Edward!”

 “Hey, guys.” Stanley called. “I want you to meet Mike and Ben.” He motioned for Eddie and Richie to come over to him. Standing with him was a tall boy with kind eyes and a muscular build, and a chubby kid with the same warm demeanor as Mrs. Hanscom.

 “Are you the famous Ben Hanscom?” Richie asked the chubby boy. “If so, I have a message from the mothership. Milk and cookies are gonna be up in a minute.”

 Ben’s cheeks flushed red. “Oh, god, she’s bringing more cookies?” he moaned.

 “Ben, your mom just brought us cookies an hour ago,” Mike said.

 “Yeah, and Stanley ate them all,” Beverly giggled.

 “She has this weird belief that kids have bottomless pits for stomachs,” Ben told Eddie. “But her food is just so good, you can’t help but want more of it.”

 At that moment, there was a knock on the door, and Mrs. Hanscom stepped in with a tray of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. “Cookies are served, everyone!” she called.

 They all devoured the cookies like there was no tomorrow. Richie’s eyes were wide as he licked the gooey chocolate off his fingers. “Ben, your mom is my new best friend,” he said.

 Ben smiled. “She’s great. Just feeds you a bit too much.” He turned to Eddie and Richie, smiling. “Tell me about yourselves. How do you like California?”

 They all talked, and pretty soon, it was as if they had all known each other their whole lives. Eddie felt welcome and accepted by them, especially Bill.

 “What are these wires for?” Eddie asked when they were standing around Ben’s desk. Atop it was a large Macintosh computer, with strange wires the colors of the rainbow hooked up to it. Ben was seated in front of it, typing away at the keyboard.

 “Oh, those? They’re what I use to get information you wouldn’t normally be able to access.” Ben flicked the wires. “I have a lot more of these, in case this batch fries.”

 “Your...a hacker?” Eddie asked.

 Ben made a face. “Hacker? No, that’s a strong word. I’m barely a hacker. I prefer to call myself an informant.”

 “Basically a hacker,” Richie said.

 “H-H-He gets u-u-us what we n-n-need to s-s-solve problems a-a-around Santa C-Carla,” Bill said. “B-B-Ben’s a wizard with t-t-technology.”

 “What problems do you solve?” Eddie asked.

 “Let me guess, it has to do with our unfriendly neighborhood adolescent serial killers, doesn’t it?” Richie observed. “I’m calling it right now, it totally does.”

 Bill hesitated. “Y-Y-Yeah, your r-r-right.”

 “HA!” Richie cried out victoriously. “I KNEW IT!”

 “Bill has a hunch on them,” Ben said. “We’ll tell you later, once we’re sure we have enough evidence.”

 “Are we talking about the Party?” Stanley asked. Him, Mike, and Beverly had gone to wash the melted chocolate off their hands, and had returned just now. “What about Bill having a hunch?”

 “Oh, I _hate_ those kids,” Beverly groaned. “They’re so creepy. That girl Jane acts like a crazy person. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her blink.”

 “I tried talking to the Will guy,” Mike said. “Wanted to see if the rumors about them being the nastiest people around were true. He wasn’t mean or anything. He was polite, to me, at least. Just...creepy.”

 “Like he’s watching you in your sleep,” Ben said.

 Bill looked away, clenching his hands repeatedly.

 “I really don’t like the one that looks like me,” Richie growled. “I don’t know who the hell he is, but I saw him in school today, and it’s like I was staring at my long lost evil twin.”

 “That’s Mike Wheeler,” Beverly explained. “He’s bad news. He’s been dating Jane Hopper since, like, the 6th grade. They’re the worst out of all of them. Trust me, those two belong in juvie.”

 “I hate him,” Richie said through clenched teeth. “He passed us in the hall and-and fucking _smiled_ at Eds. Like, a seriously creepy, I’m-gonna-rape-you smile. I wanted to knock his teeth out.”

 “Actually, Richie’s kinda on point with that one,” Eddie said. “Though I really wish you wouldn’t call me Eds in front of all these kids we _just got to know_.”

 “Ah, they don’t mind it, Eds!” Richie exclaimed. “Right, guys?” He draped his arm around Stanley’s shoulders. “Stan! Stan the Man! Stanley! You like my cheesy nicknames, right?”

 Stanley shoved Richie’s arm off him. “No.”

 Richie shrugged. “Eh, fair enough. You don’t seem like a very nickname-kid, anyway.”

 “Well, this has been fun and all, but before this gets even weirder, I think I’m gonna split.” Beverly grabbed her coat off of Ben’s bedpost. “I’ll see you later, guys. My dad wants me home by seven.”

 Bill jumped to his feet. “I-I-I can w-w-walk you h-h-home, B-B-Bev.”

 “So can I.” Ben raised his hand, then dropped it. “In case Bill can’t.”

 Eddie looked At Richie. The curly-haired boy waggled his eyebrows.

 Beverly looked slightly taken-aback. “Uh, thanks guys, but I can walk myself. It’s not far.”

 Ben slouched into his chair. Bill stepped forward. “B-But it’s not s-s-safe. W-W-What if-”

 “Bill.” Beverly gave him a reassuring smile. “I’ll be fine.”

 Bill didn’t look the least bit consoled by her words, but he reluctantly nodded. “Okay.”

 “I think I’ll head home, too,” Mike said. “It’s getting late, and my uncle may still need some help around the shop.” He waved to everyone, following Beverly. “See you!”

 Soon, everyone gradually left, until it was just Ben, Richie, and Eddie. As Richie went to thank Mrs. Hanscom for the cookies, Eddie decided to ask Ben a question that had been nagging him the whole visit.

 “Hey, Ben.” He walked over to where he still sat at the computer. “You said you have access to information people normally can’t get to, right?”

 Ben nodded. “Yes.”

 “Does this information have to do with the Party?”

 Ben’s face went pale for a second. “N-Not entirely,” he stammered.

 “It’s fine, I’m not gonna tell anyone.” Eddie looked at the open door. “How much have you found?”

 Ben sighed, rubbing his face. “Bill said to keep it to myself and tell no one until the time is right. I promised him I would keep it a secret. So I can’t tell you what exactly we think the Party’s doing. Like, how they’re murdering people.”

 “That’s fine,” Eddie said. “I just want to know if you’ve found anything on them. Like, where the heck are their parents, or why they live all by themselves in a warehouse.”

 “There is one thing,” Ben said.

 Eddie leaned forward. “Yeah?”

 “It’s just a rumor, something I heard in the school.” Ben blinked, motioning for Eddie to get close. “But everyone believes it. Everyone somehow _knows_ it’s true.”

 Eddie was beginning to grow impatient. “What’s the rumor?” he asked.

 “It’s about that boy. Will Byers,” Ben whispered. “He has an older brother named Jonathan. Nice kid, quiet, kept to himself, when he went to school. A few years ago, he took Will to the boardwalk, a little sibling bonding-time, you know, what any older brother would do for their family. They went to have a fun time. But people say that-” Ben closed his eyes and shuddered.

 Eddie tapped his foot. “What, what happened?”

 “People say that they saw only Will go home that night. And they were telling the truth. Because the next day, they found Jonathan under the pier, nearly dead. And Will was the one who tried to kill him."

 

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

The next day was chilly, a cold October breeze mingling the scents of the town with the ocean spray. Stanley Uris walked down the street into town, his gloved hands curled around a steaming cup of coffee. He lived close enough to the high school that he could be there under five minutes, but he didn’t want to get to school early today. Yes, he had tests to study for, and perhaps he could benefit from spending some extra time in the library, but right now, he just wanted to spend some time alone. It wasn’t a pretty sight, a tired, easily irritable Stanley Uris.

He had promised Ben he’d head over to the comic book shop and pick up that comic he wanted. Poor Ben was stuck spending his after-school time working on a thematic essay, and Stanley wanted to do something to cheer up his friend. As he walked into the store, heading past the few early birds who were in there with him, he noticed a sight that made him nearly drop his coffee.

Two members of the Party were browsing around the back section of the store, quietly talking to each other. One was Will, the short one with the cocky attitude, and the other was, if he remembered correctly, a boy named Dustin Henderson, the kid with the lisp. Stanley didn’t remember if that was his actual name. He didn’t care. He wanted nothing to do with these troublemaking people.

Before he could get out of there, though, Will’s head abruptly shot up and swiveled toward him. A bright grin broke across his face.

“Hey, if it isn’t the Flamer!” he called.

Stanley tightened his grip on his coffee. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them and gave the two boys a strained smile. “Oh, yep, haha. It’s me.”

Will sauntered up to him. “How’re you doing, Stanley? Treating those new kids well?”

Stanley resisted the urge to throw the coffee at his face when Will clapped him strongly on the back. “Oh, yeah, totally. They love it here, mhm, yep.”

“What’re their names, again?” Will squinted into space. “They told me back when I saw them at the boardwalk. Ellie and Reddie, right?”

“No. Eddie and Richie.” Stanley turned to walk away. “They’re Eddie and Richie.”

Dustin stepped into his path, blocking any means of escape. “I haven’t met them, yet,” he said. “Are they nice?” He wore a simple black sleeveless jacket with a white undershirt and blue jeans. When he spoke, Stanley could see the absent section of his two front upper teeth.

“Yeah, their really nice.” Stanley nodded, eyeing the door leading outside, to freedom. “Fit right in with our group.”

“You mean your little Losers Club?” Dustin said sneeringly.

Something in Stanley cracked. He was about to snap at Dustin, when Will placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Woah, there, Bard, there’s no need to insult their little gang. Would you like it if they called our group the Losers Club?”

“I’m pretty sure they already do,” Dustin replied dryly.

Stanley rolled his eyes. “Look, it’s getting late, and I really want to be to school on time, so if you could just...”

“Oh!” Dustin quickly slid to the side. “Yeah, sure. Sorry.”

“Thanks.” Stanley started off, deciding to buy Ben his comic later, when these creeps weren’t watching his every move.

“Stay sharp, Flamer!” Will called. Him and Dustin laughed as Stanley left the store and took off down the street toward Santa Carla High.

He hated those kids. He really, really did. But as he jogged onward, he realized he had seen something strange back at the shop. In Dustin’s jacket pocket, just peeking out from the flap.

It had been a blood pouch. Ones usually seen in a hospital. And it had been empty.

What could Dustin Henderson possibly need with a blood pouch?

Stanley didn’t know. Stanley didn’t want to find out.

He was afraid of what the answer might be. 


	7. Chapter 7

He arrived at school earlier than he had thought. The 8:00 bell signaling the start of classes hadn’t yet rung, so Stanley decided to mingle around the library until first period began.

“H-H-Hey, S-Stan,” Bill said as his best friend walked up to him while he was reading over some notes. “W-W-Where were y-you? U-Usually your h-h-hu-here so early.”

Stanley smiled up at him. “Ben’s seemed stressed out lately, so I decided to go buy him that comic book he’s been talking about.”

Bill sat down next to him. “C-C-Can I s-s-su-see?”

“I never got around to buying it. I got distracted.”

Bill tilted his head. “By w-what?”

“Members of the Party. That Will boy and his friend Dustin. I didn’t want to be around them.”

Bill went ridged. “W-What were they d-doing?”

Stanley shrugged. “Looking at comic books. If I hadn’t seen them in there, I would have kept believing they were illiterate.” He paused, closing his notebook. “It’s weird, though. Dustin had something odd in his pocket.”

“R-R-Really?”

“Yeah. It was a little creepy. I saw an empty blood pouch poking out of it. You know, the ones they use for people who’ve been-“

He stopped short, because Bill had suddenly turned as pale as a ghost.

“D-D-Did you s-s-su-say blood p-p-pouch?” he whispered.

Stanley nodded slowly. “Uh, yeah. Why, what’s wrong with that?”

Bill didn’t answer. He looked away, seemingly now lost in his thoughts. Stanley touched his arm, puzzled. “Bill. What’s wrong.”

“I-I-I was r-ru-right,” Bill murmured.

Stanley had no idea what he was talking about. “Right about what?” he asked.

Bill abruptly got up, grabbing his backpack and backing toward the library exit. “T-Tell E-Eddie and R-R-Richie to m-m-meet us at B-Ben’s a-after school. I’ll tell M-M-Mike and B-Bev.”

“Bill!” Stanley got up after him, but his friend was already out the door. “Bill, where are you going? What’s going on?”

“I-I-I was r-right!” Bill called over his shoulder as he bolted away. “I-I-I know t-t-the truth a-a-about the P-Party! I-I-I know w-what they a-a-are!”

 

Eddie was alone after school on Tuesday. Richie was somewhere doing a club, Bill had gone home on the bus, and Ben was working on some important essay. He didn’t know where Beverly was, and he hadn’t seen Stanley all day.

He sighed as he walked through the empty halls. The day was cold, with big gusts of wind hitting the windows violently. He shivered, zipping up his coat as he felt a large draft.

He stopped at his locker to grab his homework. It was just him in the hallway, but he suddenly felt as if he was being watched.

Eddie turned, scanning the area. No one stared back at him; the prickly feeling died away. 

_Huh,_ he thought.  _Weird._ He looked back at his books as he stuffed them into his backpack.     

Goosebumps all over his arms. The hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. Eddie whirled around, for a second fearing that one of the members of the Party was standing right behind him.

He nearly knocked down Stanley in the process of turning. Eddie felt a wave of relief wash over him when he saw his friend.

“Eddie.” Stanley sounded exhausted. He wiped a bead of sweat off of his brow. “Thank god I found you.”

“What’s up, Stan?” Eddie asked. He shut his locker, hefting his backpack onto his shoulders. “You look like you just ran a marathon.”

“I haven’t been able to find you all day. We need to go to Ben’s.”

“What?” Eddie said. “Why? What’s wrong?” Stanley’s eyes were worried, and his face was a chalk-white. “Did Bill tell you something bad?”

“I-I told him about something weird I saw this morning,” Stanley said. “And-And he just...freaked out. Told me to meet at Ben’s house. That goes for you and Richie, too.”

Eddie followed him out of the school. “What about Mike and Beverly?”

“They should already be at Ben’s right now.” Stanley checked his watch and broke into a run. “Come on!”

Eddie ran after him. Whatever had spooked Bill must be very important to worry Stanley this much.

 

Richie was already at Ben’s when Eddie arrived. He motioned for Eddie to sit down next to him. Ben had brought in a few chairs for the rest of the Losers Club to sit in. When they were all there, Bill closed the door to Ben’s room and locked it.

He stood facing them for a second, not speaking. After what felt like an eternity of silence, he finally said, “B-B-Ben and I h-h-have somet-t-thing to t-t-tu-tell you.”

Beverly leaned forward, chin on her hands. “What is it?”

Bill took in a deep breath. “Today,” he said, “Stanley s-s-saw s-something. S-Something b-b-bu-bad.”

“It has to do with the Party,” Ben added.

Eddie felt Richie stiffen beside him. Stanley and Mike looked solemn. Beverly didn’t blink.

“There’s something you have to know,” Ben said. He looked scared, his palms sweaty. “The Party are not what they seem. It’s time you know Bill’s hunch.”


	8. Chapter 8

  “Vampires,” Richie said, after Ben had finished his explanation. “You think they’re vampires.”

  “Yes.” Ben nodded. “Vampires.”

  There was a pause. Eddie exchanged a look with Beverly. She seemed just as confused by the theory as he was.

  “Uh, yeeeah, that’s not true,” Richie said.

  “I-It i-i-is,” Bill insisted. “A-A-All the m-m-murders p-point to t-t-them. T-T-Think about it, R-Richie.”

  “No thanks.” Richie shook his head. “I rather not think about blood-sucking monsters.”

  “Of the few bodies of missing people that have been found, they all have the same characteristics.” Ben began typing into his computer. “Major blood loss, bite marks on the neck and wrists, and missing limbs. And you know what else I’ve noticed?” He pointed at the screen. The Losers leaned in to see what he was addressing.

  Eddie felt sick. Ben had brought up numerous photos of bodies that had looked like they had been mauled by a bear. Beside each picture was a missing flyer, one for each corpse.

  “What are we supposed to be looking at?” Stanley asked.

  “Look closely at each body’s neck,” Ben said. “There’s always two puncture wounds by the jugular vein, barely visible. And all them have been found either by the boardwalk or by the warehouse that the Party lives in.”

  Eddie examined the pictures, resisting the urge to vomit. Sure enough, Ben was right.

  “Will told me that him and his friends go to the boardwalk all the time, when I talked to him,” Mike said shakily.

  “I see them walking over there after school every day,” Stanley said. “I’m not the only one who sees them do that, right?”

  The others slowly shook their heads. They had all seen it. It was true.

  “The first time I met Max, she invited me to go one the Ferris wheel with her,” Eddie said. “And Will told me that when she tells you that, she wants to eat you.”

  Everyone’s eyes immediately slid to the computer screen. The images of the bodies seemed much more morbid and terrifying, all of the sudden.

  “Alright, so what if they are vampires.” Richie broke the silence. He crossed his arms over his chest. “How could it be them? They’re kids, just like us! I mean, how could one of them be okay with killing a little toddler like G-“ He realized his mistake before it happened, and slammed his mouth shut.

  Everyone knew what he was going to say. Stanley and Eddie glanced at Bill. He looked down at his feet, eyes dim with sadness.

  “When your a vampire, you don’t see humans as living, thinking things,” Ben finally said. “You see them as food. That’s all we are to them. They’re the wolves, and we’re the sheep.”

  “Well, I’ll be a goddamn ass-kicking sheep that carries around garlic and crucifixes if I have to,” Richie said fiercely. “I’m not about to be fucking eaten by a fifteen-year-old vampire.”

  “How do we stop them?” Beverly asked.

  Ben sighed. “We kill them. Holy water, silver bullets, wooden stakes, all those will work.” His eyes lit up. “But there is another way to stop the killings. We turn them back into humans.”

  “W-W-Why would y-you w-want to d-do that?” Bill asked.

  “Well, Richie’s right, in a way. They’re kids like us. They deserve a shot at a decent, mortal life.”

  “They have no problem with killing human kids,” Beverly said. “Why should we show them mercy?”

  Ben shrugged. “Doesn’t everyone deserve a second chance?”

  “Not if your a murderer,” Beverly replied.

  Ben didn’t answer. He took in a deep breath and turned back to the computer. “I’ll do some research. See if I can buy anything we need. You guys should try studying them, see if they have any weaknesses.”

  “So, does this mean we’re vampire slayers, now?” Richie asked.

  Bill nodded. “I-I-I guess s-s-so.”

  Richie grinned. “Good. I can’t wait to get started. Let’s go kick some immortal ass.”


	9. Chapter 9

Wednesday was unusually warm. It was one of those days where summer takes a stand for a little while longer, before the colder seasons took the weather back. People were taking advantage of the hot day and were out and about in shorts and t-shirts, playing outside, and hanging around the beach.

Eddie, Richie, and Stanley were hiding under the pier, watching the mass of people on the beach. Through a pair of binoculars borrowed from Stanley, Eddie examined Jane and Max, who were swimming in the ocean, laughing and throwing water at each other.

“Sunlight doesn’t do anything to them,” Richie remarked.

“Ben says that throughout the ages, the vampire virus has adapted to have defenses to some things that hurt it,” Eddie said to him. “I guess sunlight is one of those things.”

“How does he even know this stuff?” Richie said. “How long have Bill and him had this idea in their heads?”

“Since Georgie died, I guess.” Eddie squinted through the binoculars as the two girls waded out of the surf and went over to their towels. “They’ve been researching this for a while, it seems.”

“I seriously still can’t believe this.” Richie took off his glasses and rubbed his face. “Here we are, in California, fighting vampires. Fucking _vampires_. If you would have told me two weeks ago that I’d be hunting the Bloodsucking Brady Bunch in Santa Carla, I would have laughed at your face.”

Eddie agreed with him. “This makes me wish we had stayed in Derry.”

Richie leaned forward, staring over him to the left. Eddie lowered the binoculars and followed his gaze. Both of them looked at Stanley as he scribbled down words in a notebook he had brought with him.

“Stanley, what are you doing?” Richie asked.

Stanley didn’t look up at them. “I’m taking notes.”

“Notes on Jane and Max?” Eddie said.

“Mhm.”

“And what the fuck are you writing about, exactly?” Richie chuckled. “How hot they are?”

Stanley glared at him. “Bill said to study how they act. We may need this information later. Quite being such a dick.”

“ _You_ quite being such a creep,” Richie retorted. “Never in my entire life have I ever heard of a vampire hunter writing down notes on the ones he’s about to kill.”

“And what would you suggest we do, trashmouth?” Stanley put down the notebook and glowered at him. “Run out there screaming bloody murder while stabbing them repeatedly with a stake?”

“That is exactly what they do in the movies!” Richie exclaimed.

“This isn’t a _movie_ , Richard!”

“Oh, shit, shit, guys, their doing something!” Eddie was once again looking through the binoculars. Stanley and Richie fell silent. They all watched Jane and Max.

Jane seemed to be listening to something. She gave Max a puzzled look, was still for a second, before turning and staring right at Eddie, Stanley, and Richie.

“Shit, shit, fuck!” Richie hissed. They scrambled up, knocking each other down as they took off under the pier, running away from the vampires as fast as their legs could take them.

 

The three human boys bolted as Jane sighed and looked back at Max. Her friend was laid out in the sun, her sunglasses hiding her eyes.

“What was that about?” she asked.

“They were watching us,” Jane answered. “The boys.”

“The ones from the boardwalk?”

“Plus their friend.” Jane laid down next to her. “I think they’re onto us.”

“No shit they’re onto us.” Max sat up, yawning.

Jane shifted uncomfortably. “You think they know what we really are?”

Max dwelled on this for a moment. “No,” she finally said. “I don’t think they know exactly what we are. I think they just know we’re up to no good.”

“Everyone knows that Max, we don’t exactly try to hide it.”

Max chuckled. “Yeah, and why does it matter if they do know? They can’t do anything to us. We’ll suck them dry before they even know what hit them.”

Jane looked at her hands. “I should tell Mike. He’ll know what to do.”

“Mike will go out and kill them the minute you open your mouth.” Max shook her head. “Let the losers have their fun. The moment we know they’re aware we’re vampires, we’ll end them. I mean, what can they do? A bunch of corny nerds like them won’t stand a chance.”

Jane hesitated. “Alright...”

“Don’t worry, Jane.” Max relaxed back against the towel. “Everything’s gonna be just fine.”


	10. Chapter 10

He crept quietly through the darkened streets of Santa Carla, moving silently toward a lone figure standing by the bus stop. Will Byers licked his lips hungrily, eyeing the woman with a deadly desire. He hadn’t fed since last night, and being surrounded by human kids all day, testing his self-control at every hour, wasn’t an easy thing to go through. The day’s warm breeze was beginning to dissipate as he walked over to the stranger.

She was around the older age, looking like a senior in high school. Will put his hands in his pockets, noticing the way she immediately stiffened when he stood next to her. He could hear her heart pounding away in her chest, could sense her soul quivering uneasily. Living in a town where people disappeared into thin air took a toll on her trust issues. Poor girl. She would soon be just another name on the missing list.

“Late night?” he asked her, inwardly chuckling when he heard her heart jump. She glanced down at him, before looking away. “Yeah.”

He took a cigarette out of his jacket, lighting it and sticking it in his mouth. “Me too.” He puffed out a cloud of smoke. “What’s your name?”

The woman took a deep breath. “Barbara.”

“Nice to meet you, Barbara. Barb? Can I call you Barb?” Will stuck out his hand, making sure she was staring into his eyes. “I’m Will.”

Barbara hesitated, then took his hand and shook it. “Nice to meet you too.” She tried to pull away, but he held fast, slowly forcing his influence on her. A tactic Mike had taught him when he had turned him, so many years ago. “Uh, c-can you let go of my hand?”

“It’s such a warm night, Barb,” Will murmured. “The air is almost too thick to breath. Wouldn’t you say?”

Barb’s eyes widened. She coughed. “Y-Yeah. It is.” His hypnotism was working. Will could practically taste her delicious blood in his mouth.

“You should lay down and take a break.” He had to hold out a little longer. He couldn’t attack yet. “Here, let me help you.”

“You know what, I-I think I’m just going to walk home.” Barb tried wrenching her hand out of his grip, breaking the spell he was casting on her. “My house isn’t too far. I can make it.”

He couldn’t take it. He hadn’t eaten in so long. Before Will could stop himself, his fangs were snapping out, and he was sinking them into Barb’s neck. She jerked back in shock, then quickly let out a scream when she realized what was happening. Will dragged her into a nearby alley, throwing her to the ground.

She struggled into a sitting position, clutching her neck. Blood dripped out from between her fingers. “W-W-What are you?” she cried out.

Will, his vampiric instincts beginning to take over, crouched over her, holding her arms to her sides. “I’m a monster,” he growled out gutturally. “I’m the one who makes people disappear.” She struggled wildly, but it was no use; he had her. Before she could scream again, Will stabbed his fangs back into her neck, and began to drink.

His body quivered with elation as the life-giving substance flowed down his throat. Will let out a sigh, hearing Barb choke out a whimper. He tightened his grip on her, drinking her life force desperately, needingly, wantingly. It tasted so good, smelled so perfect. Fear rolled off her in thunderclouds, but that only gave him more strength. Vampires _loved_  the smell of fear.

A loud fluttering caused him to lift his head. For a second, he feared it was the police, and they had heard Barb screaming. But then two figures stepped into his line of vision, and he relaxed.

“Will.” Mike’s deep voice was soft. He smiled as he walked over. “Your out late.”

Will licked the blood off his lips. “I was hungry.”

Mike nodded. His eyes flitted to Barb’s dying form. “Can Jane and I join you?”

Will’s gaze flickered to Jane, who was standing at Mike’s side. He didn’t like how a pit of jealousy burned in his stomach every time he saw them together. Jane was a like a sister to him; he loved her like she was family. So, when he found himself wanting to say, “No, you can stay, but Jane can’t,” he was really kinda disgusted with himself.

It wasn’t a surprise, though. Will knew he loved Mike Wheeler. But he also knew Mike didn’t love him back.

“Sure,” he forced out. “There’s plenty of blood left.”

They gave him grateful looks, before kneeling down next to him. Barb was dead by now; her blue eyes stared ahead in an eternal gaze, her horrified grimace the last expression she’d ever make. Will was glad she had died quickly. He didn’t feel like snapping necks tonight.

Mike took her arm and sliced her wrist open, holding his lips to her skin as he drank. Jane bit into her stomach, ripping out a chunk of flesh. She was one of those vampires that enjoyed meat along with blood. Will did, too, but he wasn’t in the mood for it tonight. He couldn’t stop himself from watching Mike’s every move.

“Nice catch,” Mike said. “Her blood is rich. Perfect taste.”

“I knew you would like it,” Will said. He lowered his mouth back to the body’s neck to drink.

When they were finished, Mike decided to let the body stay where it was. He wasn’t one to clean up after his prey, and would rather let the humans do the work for him. Will wouldn’t mind so much, if the looming threat of the police wasn’t always on his mind.

“Has Hopper given you any trouble?” he asked Jane as they walked down the abandoned street. “He hasn’t ratted us out, yet, has he?”

Jane’s eyes shone as her lips pulled up into a dark smile. “He knows what will happen if he does,” she said simply.

“What about those loser kids?” Mike said. “No bother from Bill?”

Jane hesitated, a look of doubt flashing across her face. “N-No,” she finally said. “No trouble from them. But I’ll tell you if there is.”

Mike watched her, his brow furrowed, but just nodded. “I’ll tell Lucas and Dustin to keep an eye on them. They’ll end the problem if things get out of hand.” Will could tell he knew she was lying.

“I’m gonna go on ahead,” Jane said. She gave Mike a quick peck on the cheek(much to Will’s annoyance), then spread her arms, two large, leathery bat wings sprouting from them. “See you later.” In a flurry of black clothing, she was gone, taking off into the night.

Mike watched her go, a sloppy smile on his face. “She’s something, isn’t she?” He said dreamily.

Will rolled his eyes, continuing to walk. Him and Mike said nothing for a while, before the taller boy said, “She’s lying about the Losers Club.”

“I know,” Will agreed.

“I guess she doesn’t want to hurt them until they’ve actually given her a reason to.” Mike looked down at his shoes. “Still has a bit of humanity left in her.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Will said. “It makes her special. The world could use a little bit of humanity sometimes. There are people out there that are worth being left alive.”

Mike smirked. “Says the person who just killed an innocent teenager.”

“Okay, so maybe I’m not the best person in giving life lessons.” Will shrugged. “But hey, we’re vampires. We’re supposed to be bad.”

Mike nodded. “I know.” He looked down at him, eyes filled with fondness. “I don’t regret turning you, Will.”

“And I don’t regret letting you, Mike.”

He smiled; god, Will loved that smile. “What do you say we go find someone else to drink,” he said. “We’ll bring some food home for the others.”

Will stared at him, unable to pry himself away from those eyes. “Mike, that’s the best idea I’ve ever heard.”

 

The next morning, Nancy Wheeler, Mike’s older sister, was walking down the same street her brother had been on a few hours earlier. Her mind was caught up in a cloud of worry. Barb hadn’t answered any of her calls last night. Where could she be?

She smelled it before she saw it. The strong scent of blood wafted into her nose, making her lips curl. She spotted the trail of red leading into the alley, and at first, her brain refused to comprehend it as something real.

She peered into the alley, eyes landing on the half-eaten body of her best friend. She stared for a second, mouth open in shock, before letting out a high-pitched scream.


	11. Chapter 11

  “Hey, Stanley, what’s a vampire’s favorite dog breed?”

  “I don’t care.”

  “A bloodhound.”

  “Shut up.”

  “Where do vampires keep all their money?”

  “Please, stop.”

  “In the blood bank.”

  “Oh my god."

  “What do you get when you cross a vampire with a snowman?”

  “Jesus Christ.”

  “Frostbite.”

  “Richie, I swear to god-”

 Eddie idly listened to them go back and forth with each other as he attempted to focus on his homework. The three of them were camped out in Stanley’s bedroom, a tidy, organized little cubicle that almost hurt the eyes to look at, everything was so neat. Stanley had made it very clear that they were not to touch _anything_ , putting extra emphasis on the words when he stared at Richie. There wasn’t much space to sit, so Eddie had laid down on the fluffy carpet, Stanley was at his desk, and Richie had parked himself on Stanley’s bed, throwing and catching a bouncy ball against the wall repeatedly.

 “Hey, you think Jane and Max told their leader that we were spying on them yesterday?”

 “Who?” Eddie asked.

 “You know,” Richie answered. “Mike.”

 “How do you know if he’s their leader?” Eddie questioned.

 Richie shrugged, the ball thumping loudly every time it hit the wall. “I dunno. He just has that vibe. Like they all look up to him and listen to him. Like we listen to Bill.”

 “Bill is not Mike,” Stanley said. “We look up to Bill because he’s smart and kind. Mike Wheeler is anything _but_ what Bill is.”

 “Anyway, I wonder if they did tell him.” Richie flopped himself over the edge of the bed upside down, poking Eddie’s cheek. “Blah, blah, I vant to suck your blood!”

 “Richie, cut it out!” Eddie swatted his hand away. Richie prodded his side. “Cute, cute, cuuuuute! Your so cute when your angry!”

 Eddie threw his pen at his face. “Stop that!” He didn’t know if Richie was genuinely trying to flirt with him, or if he was just being a major ass.

 Richie sighed, sitting up and resuming his session of ball-throwing. “Sometimes I feel like the Party is stalking us.”

 Eddie couldn’t help but glance at the window, half expecting Will Byers to be looking back at him.

 “It’s more like we’re stalking them,” Stanley mumbled.

 “For a good reason,” Richie countered.

 “Did you hear the news lately?” Eddie quickly said before another argument came up. “They found a body in the town. In an alleyway.”

 “Who was it?” Stanley asked.

 “Some girl named Barbara Holland.” Eddie shook his head and looked back at his homework. “They said it looked like something ate her. Like a lion or tiger.”

 “Pretty sure there are no lions or tigers waltzing around Santa Carla,” Richie pointed out.

 “It was the Party.” Stanley got up and grabbed his walkie-talkie from his dresser. “There’s no other explanation. I got to tell Bill about this.”

 “Hey, how come we don’t get cool walkie-talkies?” Richie whined as Stanley fiddled with the machine. A surge of static rose up from it, then died down. “Bill? Bill, are you there,” Stanley called. “I got news on the Party. You might want to know about this.”

 More static, then Bill’s voice came through. “T-T-This is B-Bill. What d-d-do you h-h-hu-have, Stanley?”

 “A body was found last night. Someone named Barbara Holland. Eddie says it’s all over the news.”

 A pause before Bill spoke. “I-I-I know. I-I’ve s-s-su-seen it.” His voice sounded faint and tired. “I-I-I’ll tell B-Ben. B-Beverly and M-Mike are out g-g-gathering s-su-supplies.”

 “Supplies?” Stanley said. He gave Eddie and Richie an incredulous look. “Supplies for what?”

 “F-F-For the h-h-hunt,” Bill answered. “T-T-The Party t-t-think their indestructible. L-L-Let’s s-s-see how they a-a-act when we t-t-take t-the f-fu-fight to t-them.”

 

 Beverly Marsh walked down the aisles of the hunting store, examining the many products she could buy. Most of it was rifles and deer traps, but occasionally she did find something golden; such as this. She smiled as she picked up the bear trap, looking it over to see how sharp the spikes were.

 “Are you sure that’s necessary?” Mike asked when he walked over to her. He was pushing a shopping cart filled with gear. Beverly threw the bear trap in with the rest. “I mean, it’s not like we’re heading out to find Bigfoot or whatever.”

 “We might as well be,” Beverly answered. “Vampires are notorious for transforming into giant bat creatures when they get angry enough.”

 “Your thinking about werewolves,” Mike corrected. “Or maybe the Hulk. They both do the same thing. Turn into giant monsters when they’re angry.”

 “Werewolves only transform when there’s a full moon,” Beverly said. They made their way to the counter, the hunting gear clattering against the metal of the cart. “And the Hulk is a comic book character. We’re dealing with real life vampires that can actually kill us. Which is why we need to be prepared for anything.”

 They piled the weapons onto the counter, one thing after another. The man working watched them with a bewildered expression.

 When they were done, they looked up at him. He blinked a few times, as if trying to see if this was all a prank or not.

 “What’re you kids doing with all this stuff?” he asked.

 Beverly and Mike exchanged knowing glances. She looked back at the man and pulled out her wallet. “Monster hunting.”


	12. Chapter 12

  A pair of dark eyes watched Beverly and Mike leave the hunting store. Lucas Sinclair stood still as they walked down the street, all the way to Mike Hanlon’s car. Being the oldest of the Losers Club, Mike was the only one who could drive, so the nerds were always using him as their chauffeur. Lucas looked on as they put all the weapons in the trunk, then shut it and got in. The car started up, and the two kids were then gone.

 “Hey,” Dustin said as he ambled out of the pizza place they were standing by. A large slice was in his hand as he slurped down a soda.

 “Hey,” Lucas airly said. He turned to his best friend, giving him a sharp glare. “Enjoying your meal?”

 Dustin bobbed his head. “Yeah, it’s really good. Best slice in town. I mean, it’s not as tasty as blood, but it’ll keep me filled for a while, I guess. Want some?” He held out the human food.

 “I was being  _sarcastic_ , Dustin. I swear to god, sometimes I wonder what goes on in that head of yours.”

 Dustin shrugged. “Eh, sorry. I’m hungry, but until I get some blood in my stomach, this’ll have to do.” He drank obnoxiously from his soda. “Did the losers leave?”

 Lucas nodded. “They’re buying hunting weapons. I think it might be because of us.”

 “Do they know we’re vampires, yet?” Dustin asked.

 “Maybe. I don’t know. That Bill guy should, he saw Will eating his little brother. He might have told his friends.”

 “God, we just keep suffering from that incident, don’t we?” Dustin shook his head, growling. “If Will hadn't been so careless and had drank the boy somewhere a little more private, Bill wouldn’t have a reason to suspect us.”

 “You know Will has always had a problem with controlling his feeding habits, he’s been like that the moment Mike turned him.” Lucas began walking, Dustin at his side. “And how was he supposed to know Bill would be close enough to hear the kid screaming? In a normal situation, it would have gone undetected. Don’t blame Will for something that was completely out of his control.”

 Dustin looked down guiltily. “Yeah, I guess you're right. It wasn’t Will’s fault.” He began sucking at his drink again through the straw, causing Lucas to cringe. “You know, I always thought Mike was a little too rough with him. When he turned him, and all. He didn’t have to hold him down like that, Will was completely okay with the situation, and-”

 “Will was a nervous mess. You were the exact same way. He wasn’t sure if Mike was telling the truth, or if Mike could even be trusted. Plus it was painful as hell for him, and he kept thrashing around, which is why Mike held him down. So he wouldn’t hurt himself.”

 Dustin looked away. “I think I was  _fine_ when you turned me,” he mumbled.

 Lucas laughed. “You were a blubbering ball of tears. You thought I was going to kill you.”

 “You  _did_! You killed me than brought me back to life! Death is  _painful_ , Lucas! Especially when you have some dumbass sticking his teeth in your neck!’

 Lucas shook his head, chuckling. “Your such a jerk.”

 Dustin smiled. “The feeling is mutual.”

 “We should probably tell Mike about the two nerds buying hunting weapons.” Lucas looked at his watch. “They might be planning to kill us.”

 “Which they can’t,” Dustin reminded. “We’re immortal. They can’t do a thing to us.”

 Lucas nodded slowly. “Yeah, yeah I know.” He looked at Dustin as he dug into the pizza slice, wincing. “Do you, uh, need a napkin, or whatever?”

 Dustin gave him a look. “Did you offer me a napkin when I drank my first victim?”

 “No.”

 “Than don’t even start suggesting one for freakin’ pizza sauce.”

 

 The Losers Club was in Ben’s room later that night, crowded around Beverly and Mike as they shared all the weapons they had bought at the hunting store. Eddie wondered if anyone had seen them putting all of this stuff in Mike’s car and had questioned if it was legal for two minors to be purchasing so much dangerous gear.

 “Ben, what’s your mom gonna think when she sees this stuff?” Richie asked.

 “She won’t,” Ben replied. “I’ll hide it in my closet. It’s pretty big.”

 “What’s any of this going to do to a vampire?” Stanley asked. “They’re immortal. This isn’t going to end anything.”

 “These traps aren’t meant to kill them,” Ben informed. “They’re just meant to slow them down.” He reached over to his desk and picked up a large brown package. “ _These_ are what we’ll use to send them to their graves.”

 He ripped open the package and pulled out a packet of what looked like little metallic pellets. Eddie realized that they were actually bullets.

 Mike’s eyes widened in shock. “Are those-?”

 “Silver bullets.” Ben grinned as he handed the packet over to him. “The ultimate vampire poison.”

 “Where did you get these?” Mike asked. He turned them over in his hands. “Silver bullets are almost impossible to get.”

 “I, ah, have a source.” Ben coughed. “Don’t worry about it.” He reached back into the package and took out a bunch of long wooden stakes. “Here’s what the rest of us will be using.”

 “Ben, you are legitimately the best hacker that’s ever existed,” Richie said. He took one of the stakes, holding it up. “Now I feel like a _real_ vampire hunter.”

 “We do need a plan, though,” Beverly said. She shifted her stake from hand to hand. “Weapons are all great, but they’re useless if you don’t have a good way in your mind of using them. Once we go out there with these, the Party will know we’re after them.”

 “I-I-I have a p-p-plu-plan,” Bill chimed in. He stared at his stake with a determined look in his eyes. “W-W-We storm their w-w-areh-h-house. T-Take them b-b-by s-s-su-surprise.”

 “Bill, that’s suicide,” Richie scoffed. “Their vampires. Their senses are, like, at the peak. They’re hear us, or smell us, or something.”

 “S-S-So your s-s-su-suggesting we j-just w-w-wait f-f-for them t-t-to come f-for us?” Bill demanded. “T-T-That won’t w-w-w-work.”

 “I didn’t say that,” Richie barked. “I’m just saying that’s it’s stupid to go in there thinking we have the upper hand. Because we don’t. They have all the cards, and these weapons won’t do a single thing to protect us if we don’t have a decent plan.”

 Bill shook his head, staring at the wall. Eddie sympathized with him, but he also recognized that Richie brought up a valid point. The Party knew how this game worked; they had experience with taking out people they saw as problems, probably.

 “We should go at during the evening, when they’re still at the boardwalk,” Beverly suggested. “We can hide in there, than take them out when they get home.”

 “Oh, yes, that’ll work just fine, until they pick us out one by one and _kill us_ ,” Richie practically yelled.

 “Why don’t we set the traps?” Eddie asked. “That’s the whole reason why you guys bought them, right? We can trap them than kill them, one by one.”

 “We can split into teams,” Mike said. “There’s seven of us and six of them. We can separate them into different parts of the warehouse.”

 “Now, _that_ is a plan.” Richie patted Mike on the back. “Bravo, Mikey, your thinking like a leader!”

 Mike beamed. Bill huffed and got up, looking disheveled. “A-A-Alright, we c-c-can build o-o-on t-t-this. L-Let’s m-m-meet t-t-t-tomorrow and k-k-keep planning.”

 They all nodded, murmuring their goodbyes as they got up and headed home for the night. Eddie yawned, feeling exhausted as he mounted his bike. Plotting to kill a bunch of vampires really wore out the brain.

 He didn’t even notice the tall, lanky figure hiding in the bushes of Ben’s house as he rode off into the night.

 

 Jane hadn’t felt fear in a long time. She was feeling it now.

 She watched the Losers Club disperse, heading off to their homes. She brought her hand to her mouth, biting hard on her knuckles to stop herself from grinding her teeth. She had made a mistake. She should have told Mike about Eddie, Richie, and Stanley spying on them, when she had the chance. Now they had a whole group of kids, with things that could actually kill her and her friends, coming for them. She could feel a bright kernel of panic popping in her chest.

 It was time to do something.

 It was time to end this.

 Jane knew exactly what she had to do.

 There was someone she had to turn tonight.

 

 

 


	13. Chapter 13

 Henry Bowers was at the bar.

 He was always at the bar. It seemed his trips there were getting more often. He sighed, staring into his drink, feeling sullen and disconnected from the world. That’s how he always felt. Disconnected. Like someone had just pulled a plug and his mind was cut off.

 “You okay, Henry?” Belch Huggins asked. The large boy sat at the counter beside him, drinking from a beer. Victor Criss sat on his other side, flirting with some poor girl that Henry felt extremely sorry for. They had been his friends for as long as he could remember, the three of them forming their own little gang. Patrick Hockstetter had been a part of it, too, at some time, but not anymore.

 You couldn’t be a part of a gang if you were dead.

 “Hm? Oh, yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” He didn’t look at him, just kept getting lost in his drink. “Fine as I’ll ever be.”

 “You worried about something?” Belch lifted his bottle and downed the rest of his beer in one gulp. “Those Losers kids?”

 Henry felt his fist clench as Bill Denbrough and his group of faggot friends were mentioned. He hated those assholes. He really didn’t know why. Maybe it was because Beverly Marsh was hanging out with them. Maybe it was because they seemed so much happier than he was. Maybe he just liked tormenting other kids. Who knows? All Henry knew was that he wanted to wipe those losers off the face of the earth.

 “No, it’s not them,” he lied, sitting up straight and stretching his arms out. “Just don’t feel well.”

 Belch nodded, giving him a worried look. He had always been liked that, Belch. Was a total douchebag, but could actually become a decent guy, when he wanted to be. Sometimes it annoyed the shit out of Henry, but at times like these, he was kinda grateful to have someone concerned for his well being.

 “I think I’m going to go get some fresh air,” Henry said at last. He stood up, patting Belch’s shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”

 He wandered out of the bar and into the night, the crisp air making his lungs sting. Henry breathed it in, then let it out, running a hand through his hair. God, he felt like shit. What was wrong with him? Maybe he had better quit the nightly drinking rounds.

 Footsteps coming toward him from the parking lot. Henry whirled around, expecting, for some strange reason, to see Patrick walking up to him. Instead, all he saw was a girl, a girl who looked way too young to be hanging around a bar.

 She stood a little ways by him, looking out at the beach that the bar faced. Her short hair waved slightly in the wind as her brown eyes studied the waves. She was pretty, Henry decided. For a minor.

 Her gaze abruptly snapped to his, their eyes making contact. He looked away, sucking in a sharp breath. Why did he do that? Why did the sight of this kid make him feel uncomfortable? Why did it feel like she had been looking for him this whole time?

 The slapping of shoes against pavement. She was next to him, standing by his side. Henry glanced down at her, feeling annoyed and a little scared. “What do you want, kid?” he asked.

 She gave him a smile; it was a pretty smile. “Not much. Henry Bowers, right?”

 Henry snorted, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “I didn’t come out here to chat, kid. Get lost.”

 She didn’t move. Didn’t even take the hint. She just stood there, staring at him. Henry wanted to slap her across the face. “Look, what the fuck do you want? I came out here to be alone, don’t you get it?” He squinted at her. “How old are you, anyway? What the hell is a little girl like you doing at a bar?”

 That smile only grew wider. “Do you want revenge, Henry?”

 This took Henry by surprise. “W-Why would I want to revenge, kid? I have no one to get revenge _on_.”

 “Yes you do.” She stepped closer. “You know you do. You want revenge on your father, Henry. Revenge on Beverly. Revenge on the Losers Club.”

 Henry clenched his hands. “What the fuck do you know about me and my father?” he growled. “Who are you?”

 “I can help you, Henry.” The girl reached into her pocket and pulled something out. She held it in front of him. “I can give you the power to make all your troubles go away.”

 Henry stared at the item she held, then hesitantly took it. He turned it in his hand, then clicked it open. The metallic shine of the switchblade shot out.

 The girl’s eyes seemed to glow. “What do you say, Henry? Do you accept?”

 Henry looked at her, then at the knife, then back at her. He felt something grow tight in his chest, a bad feeling in his stomach. It was like he was in a trance as he slowly nodded his head.

 The girl grinned, looking delighted. “Good,” she said. “Let’s get started.” Her eyes flashed red, and before Henry knew what was happening, he was being dragged down to the beach, her hand firmly gripped at the back of his shirt. He sank to the ground like dead weight, unable to move, to scream, to do anything. The pocket knife stuck to his hand like glue.

 The girl stood over him, and Henry thought that he was seeing the eyes of a demon looking at him through her body. She crouched, and two long, wickedly sharp fangs snapped out of her gums.

 Her smile didn’t look very pretty, anymore.

 It was the most terrifying thing Henry had ever seen.

 She bit down on his neck, hard, her teeth slicing through his skin like butter. He gasped at the pain shooting through his body, but he still couldn’t move. A sickening snap rang through his ears.

 The girl had broken his neck.

 Black spots started to slowly well up in his vision. As he drifted into unconsciousness, the girl suddenly bit into her own wrist, cutting it open. She pressed it to his lips, the bitter taste of her blood running down his throat.

 “Kill them all, Henry.” The girl gave him a triumphant look as he blacked out. “When you wake up, kill them all.”

 

 


	14. Chapter 14

 “So, what day are we raiding the warehouse?” Richie asked Bill as him, Stanley, and Eddie walked out of local coffee shop near the school Friday morning. He took a deep sip from his cup, enjoying the tasty flavor. “This weekend?”

 “T-T-This S-Su-Sunday,” Bill replied. “W-W-When they’re out a-a-at the b-b-boardwalk, we’ll g-g-g-go s-set up the t-t-tru-traps.”

 “Mike and Beverly will be keeping a lookout for them while we work, and Ben’s hacked into the boardwalk security cameras to watch them,” Eddie said. “By the time they get back, we’ll be ready.”

 Richie wrinkled his nose. “How did Ben get into the security cameras? He’s that good?”

 Eddie shrugged. “Don’t ask me, I didn’t see him do it. He just told me that he has them under his control.”

 Richie chuckled, shaking his head. “Ah, good ol’ Haystack, our guy in the chair.” A cold chill swept up his spine as the wind blew over him. “Hey, anyone want to go over to my place and do something after school? Watch a movie, or maybe play a few rounds of cards?”

 “Richie, we have homework to do,” Eddie said.

 Richie raised an eyebrow. “So?”

 “So that means I can’t waste my night watching horror movies and playing cards where the grand prize is a bag of goldfish.” Eddie let out a exasperated sigh. “Don’t you know when to stop goofing off?”

 “Nope, not really,” Richie said cheerfully. “But your welcome to start giving me maturity classes, since your so good at acting like an adult, Eds.”

 “Maybe if you actually did your homework you’d understand,” Stanley grumbled.

 Richie didn’t bother to answer that remark. In truth, he was pretty decent with keeping his grades up. He did his assignments every night, studied enough so that he would get passing grades, and made sure not to fuss around with the teachers too much. It was his foul mouth and careless attitude that gave everyone the assumption that he was a horrible student. And honestly, he couldn’t care less if they did think he was bad at school. Richie was not someone who necessarily cared what other people thought about him. The world could completely turn against him, and he wouldn’t give the slightest fuck.

 With his friends, though, it was different. He wouldn’t exactly say he craved their validation. He just wanted them to like him. Especially Eddie. There was no one in the entire world, not even his own mother and father, that mattered more to him than Eddie. He cared about the rest of the Losers, but Eddie had been at his side his entire life, and quite frankly, he couldn’t imagine a world without him.

 He had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t even realized that everyone was heading to school by now. Stanley and Bill had some crazy obsession with getting to Santa Carla High super early, and it was rubbing off on Eddie. The three of them were the nerdiest kids he had ever seen.

 Though, Richie was pretty much a nerd himself. Just not the bookworm-Stanley-Uris type. More of a spend-the-entire-day-in-the-arcade type.

 “You coming, Rich?” Eddie asked. “We’re going to the library.”

 Richie scoffed. “The library? On purpose? No thanks, I’ll catch up with you guys when school actually starts.”

 Eddie shrugged, then waved goodbye as him, Stanley, and Bill headed off. Richie watched them go, then turned and leaned against the wall, sipping from his coffee, feeling slightly disgruntled and abandoned.

 “Aw, does somebody not like seeing their little friend go off with other boys?”

 Richie’s heart skipped a beat. He lowered the coffee from his lips and wiped his mouth with his sleeve, glaring at Mike Wheeler with a burning contemptment.

 “What the fuck do you want, frogface?” he snapped.

 Mike held up his hands, smirking that same smug smirk he had on when Richie had first seen him in the school hallway. “Easy, trashmouth. Just wanted to say hello. Didn’t want to interrupt your conversation with the rest of the Loser’s gang.”

 “Club,” Richie said automatically. ‘We’re a club. And don’t call us losers. You have no right to call us that.”

 “Why not?” Mike said. “You call yourselves that. Why can’t I? It’s obviously true that you guys are nothing but a bunch of useless nerds.”

 Richie gritted his teeth. “Call us nerds one more time,” he said quietly. “I fucking dare you.”

 Mike laughed, crossing his arms and resting against the wall next to Richie. “You crack me up, Richie, you know that? If you were in our Party, you’d probably be a Bard.”

 Richie looked at him, trying to catch a glimpse of his teeth, to see if his fangs were visible. “Bard? What do you mean by Bard?”

 “You know, Dungeons and Dragons.” Mike looked genuinely confused. “What, you’ve never played it before?”

 Richie lowered his hand to his waist, feeling his wooden stake in his pocket. “Dungeons and _Dragons_? Dude, are you serious? You call  _us_ nerds? Wow, never in my entire life would I have thought you and your buddies would play _Dungeons and Dragons_.”

 Mike frowned, and for a second, Richie could have sworn his eyes had flickered red. “We don’t play it as much as we used to. But we still have a campaign here and there.”

 “Whatever.” Richie stepped back. “I gotta go. Smell ya later, frogface. Stay away from my friends.”

 “Hey, Richie,” Mike called as he walked away. “You may want to keep something in mind.”

 Richie stopped walking, but didn’t turn around. His hand inched closer to his pocket. “Yeah? And what’s that?”

 He heard Mike’s heavy breathing, and he suddenly had a strange feeling of someone walking over his grave. “If you want to keep your friends safe, I suggest you keep to yourself and focus on them. There are bad things in this town, and if you don’t watch it, your face will be joining the other missing papers on the billboard. Got it?”

  _Oh, I get it,_ Richie thought. _I know you and your friends are the bad things. And my friends and I will be the ones to stop you. You have no idea who you're messing with._

 “I got it, Mike.” Richie allowed a small smile to cross his lips as he walked away. “I got it.”


	15. Chapter 15

“You KNEW?” Mike roared, glaring at Max with a look that would cause a grown man to burst into tears. He had gone back to the warehouse as soon as Richie had left, convinced the other boy was aware that he was a vampire. Intending to warn his friends that they might have to make some kids disappear tonight, the leader of the Party hadn’t expected to find out that his own girlfriend, plus Max, had been aware that the Losers were actually preparing to kill them by buying hunting gear, all while  _he_ had been trying to figure out if he was just being paranoid or not.

 Max stared back at him, her chin tilted upward in that defiant bratty look he detested with all his might. Beside her, Jane wrung her hands nervously, eyeing Mike like he as a ticking time bomb. Never in his entire life had he ever been so furious with her. How could she had just kept this a secret without telling him? And yet she conferred with Max, one of the most reckless, most unpredictable people in California?

 “We thought it wouldn’t be a problem,” Max said. “They weren’t showing any signs of knowing.”

 “They were _spying_ on you at the _beach_!” Mike started pacing back and forth. “How could you not have realized it was a problem after _that_? Do you two realize just how much danger you’ve put us in?”

 “A lot of danger,” Dustin chimed. He slouched lazily in one of the old armchairs they had stolen from a department store, airily sucking blood up from a pouch. “So much danger that you wouldn’t even believe.”

 “Dustin, shut up.” Mike pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. ‘Okay, okay, it’s okay, I can fix this. I can go and kill them tonight.”

 “I really don’t understand what the big problem is.” Max threw her hands up in the air. “Those losers are as dangerous to us as a rabbit is to a fox. Why are you so damn worried?”

 “Because I’m just finding out right now that they have been buying hunting weapons to try to kill us with!” Mike yelled.

 “They can’t kill us, we’re immortal!” Max yelled back.

 “It’s not just hunting weapons.” The heavy thud of Will’s boots reverberated through the warehouse as he stepped down the stairs leading up to the building’s roof. “They have wooden stakes. Silver bullets. One of them is carrying around a cross.” He sat down on the bottom step. “They are completely prepared to kill us.”

 Mike felt like he was about to explode. He whirled on Jane. “Did you know they had vampire-hunting weapons?”

 Jane swallowed hard. Her head moved in a timid nod.

 Mike staggered back, feeling like he was losing control of everything around him. “Jane,” he said. “You-You have to _tell_ me this kind of stuff, okay? We’re being threatened, and if you and Max had just come to me when you saw them Wednesday, none of this would be happening.” He rubbed his eyes, and for the first time in many years, Mike Wheeler felt tired. So tired he could just fall into a deep sleep standing right there.

 “Maybe you’re not cut out for this kind of stuff anymore.” Max’s voice was a sneer. “Maybe, I don’t know, you should let someone with a little more patience take control of this situation.”

 “Who, Max?” Mike snapped. “Who could you possibly be hinting at? You? Dustin? Your delinquent brother who spends his entire time out partying with humans and forcing everyone to call him the King of Santa Carla High?”

 Max bared her fangs, a warning snarl brewing from her throat. “Do _not_ call Billy my brother.”

 Mike’s head vampire instincts flared up at the signal of Max’s aggression. A low, rumbling growl surfaced up from his chest. “Are you telling me what to do?”

 “Maybe I am,” Max hissed.

 “Stop!” Jane stepped in front of them before either could spring to attack each other. “Stop, we can’t tear each other apart like this!” She gazed at Mike with sorrowful eyes. “Mike, I’m sorry we kept the Losers Club a secret from you. We won’t do it again, we promise. Tell us how to fix this, and we’ll do it. How do we stop them from killing us?”

 Mike took in a deep breath, attempting to calm himself down for Jane. His extended fangs retreated into his gums as he leaned back and sighed. Max scoffed and turned away, throwing herself into an armchair. Will and Dustin were standing now, alert and nervous after seeing the potential fight almost happen.

 “We have to get rid of them,” he finally said. “How, I don’t know. It won’t be easy rounding them all up together in one place. It’s gonna take a more complex plan.”

 “I have a plan,” a deep voice suddenly said. Lucas swooped into the warehouse from the large windows overhead, his wings shrinking as he landed gracefully. Mike turned away in disgust when Max got up and allowed him to caress her in his arms, the other boy kissing her passionately on the lips.

 “That’s how you look when you kiss Jane,” Dustin whispered to him as he walked past. He flashed him a smile as Mike flipped him off.

 “I’ve been watching the losers all morning,” Lucas said. He let go of Max and headed over to Mike. “Will’s right about them having stakes and silver bullets. They’re also preparing for something. What it is, I have no idea. But we need to do something before they pull their plan off.”

 “What’s your plan, then?” Mike asked. He felt Will walk over to his side, and somehow his presence managed to calm him down completely. “And how long will it take to get them all together?”

 Lucas grinned. “Not long. Not long at all. Because we’re going to lure them here.”

 Dustin tilted his head. “How?”

 “Well, how do you manage to catch a fish, Dustin?”

 Dustin squinted his eyes. “You...feed it a smaller fish?”

 “Wrong.” Lucas’ smile grew wicked. “You use bait.”


	16. Chapter 16

  _Sunday._

 Beverly silently packed her backpack, shoving in whatever she would need for their vampire-killing mission. She went over the supplies in her mind, then zipped the backpack up and slung it over her shoulder. After making sure her father wasn’t in his bedroom, she crept through the apartment, making her way to the front door.

She was nervous, she had to admit. Not about the vampires, but more about what her father would think when he came home tonight and found her gone. He didn’t approve of her friendship with the boys. She used to think it was because he was worried about her safety, but now, she knew better. Much, much better.

She reached the front door without making a sound, unlocking it.

“Beverly.”

She froze. The smooth, oily voice of her father sent fearful chills down her spine that no amount of vampires could create. She slowly looked over her shoulder, spotting him watching her in the shadows, sitting in his chair.

“Y-Yes, Daddy?” she said, unable to keep the tremor out of her voice.

He tilted his head, unblinking. “Your looking prettied up.”

“I’m looking prettied up, Daddy, I wear this almost everyday.” She hadn’t said it in a sarcastic manner, but by the way Mr. Marsh’s jaw tightened, she knew she had gotten on his nerves.

He beckoned to her. “Come.”

Beverly hesitated, then reluctantly let go of the doorknob and walked over to him. He took her hand in his, squeezing it tightly.

“People have been talking, Bev.” His voice was calm, but his eyes were furious. “They’ve been saying some worrying things about you.”

Beverly knew what he was talking about. “You don’t have to worry, Daddy, I’m fine.”

Mr. Marsh turned her hand over in his. “They’ve seen you running around with those...those boys.”

Her heart sped up. “No, Daddy, they’re just friends, you know that.”

“Oh, I know, sweetheart.” Mr. Marsh smiled. “But I worry about you, Bev. I worry a lot. Your only friends are a bunch of boys. You cut your hair short. And now, now I see this.” He lifted his other hand, and Beverly’s breath caught in her throat.

The night Ben had given them all their stakes, Beverly had found a postcard in her coat pocket. It was from Ben, telling her how he would walk her home anytime, if she wanted him to. At the time, it had been an innocent gesture that had touched her heart. Now, she wished Ben had never given it to her in the first place.

“Who’s Ben, Bevy?” Mr. Marsh asked.

“No one, Daddy, he was just being nice.” Beverly tried pulling her hand away, but her father wouldn’t let go. Tears were beginning to prick at the corners of her eyes.

“Bevy,” Mr. Marsh said. “Are you still my little girl?”

Beverly was about to say yes on instinct, when something made her stop.

Something in her told her to say no.

She couldn’t do this anymore.

She _wouldn’t_ do this.

“No,” she said softly.

Mr. Marsh’s eyes narrowed. “What?”

Beverly yanked her hand out of his grasp. “I said _no_!”

Mr. Marsh stood up abruptly, causing her to stumble backwards. He lunged for her, making her fall to the floor. She screamed at him to stop at he held her down, his nails leaving marks on her skin.

His eyes were mad as he grinned down at her maliciously. “Do those boys,” he said coldly, “know that I-“

Beverly kicked him hard in the ribs, making him rear back in pain. She kicked him again in the face, then scrambled up and bolted for the bathroom, shutting the door and locking it.

Mr. Marsh got up slowly, grunting. He shook off the pain in his abdomen and nose and marched down the hallway. Noticing the bathroom door was shut, he charged at it, kicking it down easily.

The shower curtain was slid closed. He yanked it open, ready to grab his daughter.

He was met with a massive blow to the head from a toilet tank lid. Mr. Marsh collapsed to the floor, blood gushing from a horrible dent in his head as his eyes drooped closed.

Beverly dropped the lid, shakily stepping out of the bathtub and staring down at her father. Her face held no emotion as she looked at him, her entire body numb with the realization of what she had just done. She needed to get out of here. She had an aunt that lived across town, she could get there and call Bill to meet her there before they headed to Ben’s.

Two unfriendly dark eyes met her blue ones as she found herself facing Lucas Sinclair when she turned to leave, his hands wrapping tightly around her throat.

 

Tonight was the night they killed the Party. Bill’s stomach flipped with apprehension as he biked toward Beverly’s apartment. They had planned to meet outside her door, then head to Stanley’s and eventually to Ben’s. He pedaled down her street, stopping at her complex.

He was surprised to see that she wasn’t there waiting for him. Beverly was rarely late. Bill let his bike fall to the ground, trotting up the rickety metal stairs that lead to her apartment.

When he got there, he knocked loudly. “Beverly?” he called. “It’s me, Bill!”

No answer.

“Beverly?” Bill knocked again. “Mr. Marsh?” He tried the doorknob, and was startled to find it open. Hesitantly, he stepped inside.

The living room was dark. Bill glanced around, his heart sinking to the floor when he saw a fallen bookshelf in the corner and an overturned chair. He walked down the hallway, seeing the bathroom door off it’s hinges on the floor.

He stepped into the bathroom, and nearly fainted. Mr. Marsh’s body was spread out on the tile, his head sitting in a puddle of blood that seeped out of a large gash on his head. Bill began to panic.

“Beverly!” he shouted. “Beverly!” He ran into her bedroom. “Beverly, are you in h-“

His mouth dropped open.

Scrawled out in big letters on the bedroom ceiling, written out messily in blood, was a sentence that made Bill’s heart nearly leap up his throat and out of his mouth: YOU DIE IF YOU TRY.

Bill ran out of the apartment, his mind a whirlwind of panic and fear.

 

The first name to pop up in his head was Richie, so that was who Bill sought out. He found him at the boardwalk, playing a Street Fighter game in the arcade.

“R-R-Richie!” he cried. He doubled over, trying to catch his breath. “T-T-Thank god I-I f-f-found you.”

Richie didn’t look at him. “Oh hey, Bill.” His hand slammed down repeatedly on the action button.

“R-R-Richie, w-w-we have t-to g-g-go. N-Now.”

“I’m a little busy here at the moment.” A string of curses left Richie’s mouth as his character began to get pulverized by the opponent.

“Richie, listen to me!” Bill grabbed Richie’s shoulders and spung him around.

“Hey!” Richie yelled. “What gives?” He shoved Bill off of him. “I’m gonna lose because of you!”

“They got her, Richie!”

Richie fell silent, eyes widening as he noticed how terrified Bill looked.

Bill’s breathing was short. “T-T-They got h-her, Richie. The Party got Beverly.”

 


	17. Chapter 17

The Losers Club was in chaos.

 It was like six tornadoes had all entered the same room and were now competing with each other to see who could be the loudest. That was how much noise there was. Eddie watched Stanley and Richie scream at each other while Ben and Bill panicked like two squawking birds, all while Mike desperately attempted to calm everyone down. He would help him, but he was too busy breathing in and out of his inhaler and trying not to die from an asthma attack.

 Beverly was gone. Beverly had been kidnapped. Beverly’s dad was dead and there was a ominous message written on her ceiling in blood. That’s all he had gotten from Bill’s garbled message when he had been yelling at them all through his walkie-talkie. Now, all he heard were Stanley and Richie’s angry voices.

 “We should never have agreed to go after those vampires! Because of us, Beverly’s missing and possibly dead! We need to come up with a better plan!”

 “Are you _shitting_ me right now? Your friend was just kidnapped by some fucking dead-eyed teenager and you want to sit back and _think_ about how to get her back? Yes, that’s totally what we should do, Stanley, that’s _totally_ what we should do!”

 “You don’t understand!” Stanley insisted. “We can’t afford to lose anyone else! Do you want Bill to get captured by them, Richie? Or Mike or Ben or Eddie or me?”

 Richie crossed his arms. “Well, I wouldn’t mind if they kidnapped _you_!” he spat.

 “You-You-” Stanley yelled out and clapped his hands to the sides of his head. “You have got to be the most retarded person in this  _town_ , Richie!”

 “Oh, yes, call me retarded,” Richie hissed. “Call me retarded, Stanley, call me retarded! Hey, you know what’s retarded? Your stupid, fucking, cock-sucking _face_!”

 “Alright, enough!” Mike yelled, holding Stanley back from literally clawing Richie’s eyes out. “Look, I know you're both angry about Beverly. I am, too. But you know what? There’s only one way we can save her, and that’s together. The Party wants to tear us apart. And right now, they’re winning.” He stood between Richie and Stanley. “They want to divide us! And we can’t save Beverly from them if we’re too busy fighting with each other!”

 Richie threw an accusing glare at Stanley. “Tell _him_ that! I want to go out and find Beverly right away, but he just wants to sit back and _think_ about rescuing her!”

 “That’s not what I’m saying!” Stanley said. “The Party aren’t going to kill her right away. They want us to come for her now, with no solidified plan. Our previous plan to set up all the traps and separate them won’t work, now. We need to be smart about this!”

 “Okay, so what happens when we do get a better plan?” Richie questioned. “What happens when we go to the warehouse, kill the Party, and find Beverly’s ripped up remains thrown in a corner? What are you going to do then, Stanley? How are you going to create a plan to fix _that_?”

 Stanley was silent, his chest heaving. He shook his head and shrugged, turning away. “I don’t know.”

 “What was that?” Richie gasped. “Stanley doesn’t _know_ ? Oh my god, _Stanley doesn’t know_!”

 “Shut up, you asshole!” Stanley yelled at him.

 “Guys, seriously, stop!” Mike clapped his hands loudly in their ears. Richie and Stanley wouldn’t look at him, Stanley going over to Bill and Richie walked over to Eddie. Eddie watched him fall back into the chair next to him, his face red as he groaned.

 He removed the inhaler from his lips. “This is a disaster,” he whispered shakily.

 “Tell me about it.”

 “What are we going to do?” Eddie felt a helpless, claustrophobic pit rapidly begin to gnaw at his stomach. He took a few more puffs from his inhaler. “They won’t keep Beverly alive forever.”

 “That’s what I’m trying to say, Eds, but none of them will listen.” Richie gestured to Stanley and the others, his brown eyes so angry they almost looked like Mike Wheeler’s. “Beverly’s my friend. Shit, she’s _our_ friend. And they just want to _keep planning_ and let her _die_.”

 Eddie sighed, leaning back and looking up at Ben’s ceiling. “We should be out there finding her right now.”

 “Yeah, yeah I know.” Richie rubbed his nose, then perked up. He stared at Eddie. “So why don’t we?”

 Eddie looked at him. “What?”

 “Why don’t we?” Richie repeated. “Why don’t we go out and find her right now? We have the tools, we know where we need to go. Why don’t we go save Beverly ourselves?”

 “Richie, that’s insane,” Eddie said. “We’ll get killed.”

 “Do you really believe that?” Richie asked. “Come on, do we seriously need _Stanley Uris_ around to save someone? Eds, we’ve been on our own since first grade! We’ve done so much worse than this before!”

 “Really?” Eddie couldn’t help but smile. “Name one thing we’ve done in Derry that was more terrifying and dangerous than this.”

 Richie thought for a second. “We killed a clown.”

 Eddie laughed. “No, we did not!”

 “Yes, we did. We killed the clown with hummus. We cracked open his head and threw him down a well.” Richie slapped his shoulder. “We made him _float_ with the _fishes_.”

 “I do not remember killing a clown with hummus. And I think you mean “Sleep with the fishes.”

 Richie chuckled. “Okay, so maybe we didn’t kill any clowns. But we can kill these vampires. We can go to the warehouse right now, find Bev, and save her. Let's go, in and out. Twenty minute adventure. It’ll be easy!”

 Eddie shook his head and looked down at his inhaler. “It’ll be dangerous, Richie.”

 Richie grinned. “Since when has anything _not_ been dangerous since we moved to this shitty town?”

 They stared at each other, and Eddie felt his heart quicken when he looked into Richie’s warm brown eyes. He sighed.

 He had always known Richie Tozier would be the death of him. Though not quite as literally as this.

 They were so, so going to end up dead.  

  
  
  


	18. Chapter 18

“This is a terrible idea,” Eddie said as they walked toward the taxi stop. “This is by far the worst idea you have ever come up with, hands down.”

“Will you calm down?” Richie asked him. “It’s a perfectly fine idea. We are totally prepared, see?” He lifted up his Nirvana sweater and revealed the wooden stake tucked into his pocket.

Eddie felt the weight of his stake against his back as he walked. “What if they’re all there, trashmouth? What are two stakes going to do against six vampires?”

“Chill out, will you?” Richie shook his head. “This isn’t an attack, it’s a _rescue mission_. We’re going to save Bev.”

“And what if Beverly isn’t there, Richie?”

Richie paused, his mouth open, then closed it. “Then she isn’t there,” he said. “Though I can’t think of anywhere else they might be hiding her. Unless they have another creepy warehouse somewhere around town.”

They stopped at where the taxis came, waiting for one to arrive. Eddie bounced his foot, feeling nervous and guilty. “I still think we should have told Bill and the others,” he said. “They have every right to know what we’re doing right now.”

“Bah!” Richie cried out boisterously. “Do you know what would have happened if we did tell the others?”

“They would have tried to stop us?”

“They would have tried to stop us!” Richie waved his hands in the air. “They’re too cautious! Always planning, and no acting! If we wanna find Bev right away, it’s up to us, Eds. We’re the only ones who know when to spring into action around here!”

“Weren’t you the one who said we needed a well thought-out plan and take this vampire-killing thing slow?”

“Well, yes,” Richie stammered. “But I-“

“You specifically said that it would be dumb to think we have the upper hand.” Eddie grinned up at him. “You said that-“

“Stop bringing up what I said,” Richie snapped. “That was before they kidnapped Beverly. That was before our friend was in danger.” He breathed out, looking angry. “Do you want Beverly to die, Eds? Or do you want to get off your ass and do something about these assholes who took her?”

Eddie knew Richie was right. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “If I end up dying, I’ll be haunting you for the rest of your life, Tozier,” he said.

Richie smiled. “Always a pleasure to know you’ll stick with me through death, Eds.”

Eddie laughed, looking back at the street. “God, why are you so weird?”

“It’s my ADHD, Eds, it controls what comes out of my mouth.” Richie followed Eddie’s gaze, then brightened. “Hey, I have an idea! Let me teach you some karate moves!”

“What?” Eddie said. “Why?”

“So if we do get attacked, you can defend yourself with your own fists!” Richie stepped back. “Here, face me. I learned this from my cousin.”

Eddie sighed and obeyed his orders. “Richie, I really don’t think we have time for this.”

“No, no, seriously, it’ll help.” Richie shook out his arms. “Okay, watch me. The first thing you want to do is crouch down, like this.” He bent his knees, as if he was about to burst into a sprint. “Then, you just wanna jump up and punch out with both arms, as hard as you can.” Richie suddenly sprang into the air, one of his hands nearly smashing into Eddie’s nose.

“Wow, your right, that looks totally helpful,” Eddie said sarcastically.

“Alright, now you try.” Richie punched his arm. “Come on, hit me with all you’ve got!”

“Richie, seriously, we need to-“

“Come on, Eds, pretend I’m a vampire!” Richie hunched over and curled his fingers into claws, baring his teeth. “Blah, blah, I’m Mike Wheeler!” he said in a gruff, deep voice that sounded amazingly on point to how the other teenager talked. “I drink people’s blood and scare little children into giving me their Halloween candy! I wear black in the summer and listen to Simon and Garfunkel!”

Eddie tried to hide his smile as he shook his head. “Jesus, fine, I’ll do it.” He sighed, then did his best to imitate Richie, crouching down and then jumping up, feeling his fists connect with his friend’s stomach.

Richie stumbled back, clutching his abdomen. “Oooow, Eds, that totally hurt!” he groaned, laughing.

“Oh, god, are you alright?” he rushed over to him. “Sorry, I didn’t know I could hit that hard!”

Richie laughed again as Eddie helped him stand. “Are you kidding me? Eddie, that was awesome! You’ll totally be kicking those vampire’s butts!”

Eddie sighed, smiling. Sometimes you just couldn’t help but fall in love with Richie Tozier’s sense of humor.

The sound of a car engine made them turn back to the road. A taxi drove up to them, and a skinny man with a short beard and long hair tied into a bun rolled the window down. “You need a ride?” he called out.

Richie walked over to the car. “Yeah, we do. You drive everywhere?”

The man nodded, tapping his name tag. It read Larry H. “I’m the best driver in Santa Carla,” he boasted proudly. “I’ll get you where you need to go, man!”

Richie nodded. “Great!” He opened the car door and bowed to Eddie. “Ladies first!”

Eddie climbed in. “Har, har,” he said. Richie got in next to him, and Larry took off at high speed.

“So, where we going, man?” Larry looked over his shoulder and flashed a bright smile. “Downtown, the movie theater, high school?”

“The warehouse on 6th Street,” Eddie said.

Larry’s eyes bulged out of his head. “You wanna go over to that creepy place? That’s where they do the _drugs_ , man! You two really going to hang over there?”

Eddie gave him a helpless shrug. “Yeah. I know it’s a bad area, but we need to go there. We’ll pay you extra for it.”

Larry clucked his tongue, shaking his head. “Alright man, I’ll do it, but I’m warning you, there are some real shaaaaaady figures around there.”

Richie and Larry fired up a conversation, and Eddie focused on what they would exactly do when they got to the warehouse. It might have been better to bring more weapons with them; two stakes might not be enough. But once again, Richie was partially right. They were just there to find Beverly and get her to safety. He wasn’t actually planning to kill any members of the Party unless they attacked.

Though, they probably wouldn’t give up Beverly easily. They had kidnapped her for a reason. Maybe to make a statement? What if she was already dead?

  _Don't think like that._ Eddie let out a breath and tapped his fingers against the car door rapidly.  _She’s alive. We can still get to her on time. We can still save her._

They were driving out onto a desolate road that was near the marina. Eddie watched the surrounding area slowly grow from bad, to really bad, to worse. Old warehouses that might have once held boats and cargo sat gloomily, giving off an abandoned, forgotten vibe. Once or twice he saw some people standing in front of them. They did not look friendly.

“Here you are, dudes!” Larry pulled to into a large parking lot that was in front of a huge warehouse. “Stay safe! You want me to wait for you two or something?”

“Yeah, could you?” Eddie asked. “That would be really great.” It might be a smart idea to have a quick form of escape, in case things got really out of hand.

They got out of the taxi, thanked Larry again, then made their way to the warehouse entrance. Two large, sliding doors met them, wide open like a mouth ready to swallow them whole.

Eddie looked at Richie. “You ready?”

Richie nodded, squaring his jaw. “Yep. Let’s do this.”

Together, they walked into the warehouse. Eddie scanned the surroundings, seeing old furniture and tarp covers everywhere. The huge lights on the ceiling flickered ominously, giving off a quiet static hum. There were stairs leading up to a second level in a corner.

“You wanna try the roof?” Richie asked. He pointed to the stairs. “There doesn’t seem to be anyone here.”

“No, wait.” Eddie held out a hand. “Do you hear that?”

They both went silent, listening. Through the sound of his breathing and own pounding heart, Eddie could just hear the distinct sound of someone chewing on food. And it was coming from a closed door by the stairs.

“Oh, fuck.” Richie licked his lips, touching his stake. “You don’t think-“

“I don’t know,” Eddie answered. He edged toward it cautiously, keeping a hand on his stake at all times. He pressed his ear to the door.

The ripping of cloth. The sound of teeth chewing flesh.

One of the vampires was in there. And they were eating a person.

He hoped to god that it wasn’t Beverly being eaten.

“On my mark,” he mouthed to Richie. He held up his hand, counting down with his fingers. Three. Two. One.

He kicked the door open, jumping into the room, Richie at his side. They both stared in horror at the bloody carcass that was strewn across an old mat on the floor. Eddie nearly began laughing with relief when he saw it wasn’t Beverly.

The laughter died in his throat though, when he saw the terrifying face of Mike Wheeler staring right back at him.


	19. Chapter 19

 The first thing Beverly realized when she came to consciousness was that she was not safe. The feeling of danger surrounded her like a pack of wolves, alarms going off in her woozy brain that she was in imminent peril. She groaned, slowly pushing herself up into a sitting position. A pounding headache was beginning to form in her temples.

 She opened her eyes and blinked a few times, her vision swimming. Her entire body ached as she let out a hacking cough. As she sat there, feeling like she had just been punched repeatedly in the gut, she noticed her clothes were stained red with blood.

  _Daddy’s blood,_ she remembered. The previous events that had just happened to her came in like a hurricane. She had killed her father. Her own father. She was a murderer. She might as well be just as bad as the Party.

  _No. He deserved it. He wasn’t someone good or special. I was just defending myself. He abused me, and it’s better that he’s gone._ She clutched her head, feeling as if she was about to vomit. Had she hit her head on a rock or something? Everything hurt like hell.

 She had to take a breather for a moment. To clear her head and let the pain go away. Beverly sighed, breathing in the dank, musty air. Everything smelled like dirty water and rotting food. She took in her surroundings, trying to see if she recognized where she was.

 She was in a cave, it seemed. Where the cave was, she didn’t know. Beverly thought she heard the distant sound of waves crashing against the beach, but she wasn’t sure if she was just imagining it or not. She pressed her hands into the cold uneven floor and stood up. She swayed on her feet a little, before regaining her balance.

 Something immediately caught her eye, the minute she stood up. In the corner, by where she was, there were two distinguishable bodies of people she knew. Belch Huggins and Victor Criss, Henry Bowers’ goons, their forms torn apart and bloody. She stepped back, covering her mouth in horror as the realization hit her like a truck.

 She was in the Party’s _lair_.

 She needed to get out. Lucas had taken her back at her home, and who knew when he or the others would be back? Beverly started forward, but something abruptly yanked her right leg back. The cool feeling of metal pressed against the skin of her ankle.

 Beverly turned, eyes widening when she saw the chain clamped around her leg. It was attached to a rock, a large one that appeared unmovable. She dropped to her knees, desperately trying to get it off.

 “No amount of pulling is going to do anything, you know.”

 Beverly froze. She turned her head slightly, her heart pounding.

 Max walked up to her casually, a smirk on her face. “There’s no way you’ll be able to move that rock. So I’m sorry to say, but your gonna be stuck here for a while.”

 Beverly faced her fully, anger replacing her fear, if only for a moment. “Where am I?”

 Max shrugged. “Our secret hideout. When we’re not at the warehouse we come here. It’s the perfect place to keep our more...fresh victims.”

 Beverly’s eyes darted to Victor and Belch. “You mean their-?”

 “Alive? Yes, but barely. We’ve been living off of them for a while, but Mike gave the order to kill them tonight. So, yeah, they might as well be dead.”

 Beverly looked away, disgusted. “Your crazy.”

 Max grinned. “There’s a reason why people call me MadMax, Beverly.”

 “Bill and the others are coming for me.” A wave of nausea suddenly overwhelmed her, and she sank back to the floor. “When they get here-”

 “But they aren’t coming for you,” Max interrupted. “They don’t know where you are. They could search the entire town, and they’ll never find you.” She chuckled. “And even if they do discover where we are, you’ll already be dead by the time they find you. Sucked dry. Nothing more than a vampire’s snack.”

 “I’m not afraid of you,” Beverly managed to pant out.

 Max bent down in front of her, meeting her gaze with those eery blue eyes. She leaned forward and smiled, her fangs inches away from Beverly’s face. Her breath was tinged with the scent of death.

 “You will be, Beverly. You will be.”


	20. Chapter 20

  “Holy _shit_!” Richie shrieked. He backpedaled out of the room and back into the main area, nearly tripping over Eddie in the process. “Dude, what the _fuck_!”

 Mike stood up slowly, slightly hunched over. Blood dribbled down his chin onto his undershirt. “What the hell are you two doing in here? How did you get in?”

 “Uh, the door was open.” Richie pointed to the warehouse door. “We assumed we were just allowed in. You know, vampire killer conduct, always break in uninvited, all that shit.”

 Mike’s eyes narrowed, blazing a furious red. “You do know your not getting out of this easily, right? Just because you could be my twin doesn’t mean I have any trouble draining you.”

 Richie let out an outraged gasp. “I’m a bad bitch, you can’t kill me!”

 Mike’s lips pulled upward into a horrible grin, revealing his fangs. “Than what about your friend? He doesn’t seem as...capable of beating me up as you are.”

 Fear ripped through Eddie’s heart. Richie balled his hands into fists. “You try touching him and I’ll fucking tear your fangs right out of your mouth.”

 Mike hissed dangerously. ‘We’ll see about that.” He launched forward, clawed hands ready to grab Richie’s neck.

 “Richie!” Eddie screamed. He started forward, fumbling for his stake, knowing he wouldn’t get to him on time, but he didn’t care. His best friend was about to die, and by god, he just couldn’t stand there and do nothing. Mike’s fangs were aimed straight for Richie’s jugular vein, the fatal stab of death.

 At the last moment, he suddenly fell back, dropping to fall fours. Richie was cowering, his eyes squeezed shut. They peeped open when he realized he wasn’t being ripped apart.

 A low grinding noise sounded from the back of Mike’s throat. He got to his feet, retreating into the shadows, his eyes glowing maliciously. Eddie turned, confused as to what made him stop his attack.

 “Richie!” Stanley’s voice was loud in his ears. “Eddie! Where are you guys?” Footsteps, and the Losers Club came bursting into the warehouse, frantic and sweating. They all let out cries of relief when they saw Eddie and Richie standing there.

 “Guys!” Eddie had never felt happier to see his friends. Bill, Stanley, and Mike were all smiles as they pulled them into a giant bear hug. He noticed how Mike had his gun on him, and how Bill had a baseball bat with nails jutting out of it in his left hand. _Thank god, they came prepared._

 “Where have you been? One moment we were all talking, the next you two were gone! I had to waste my entire allowance on a taxi to get us here!” Stanley said. “Do you know how worried we’ve-” His eyes landed on the corpse, and they looked like they were going to pop out of his head.

 “We aren’t alone,” Richie said. He glared at where Mike Wheeler was watching. The vampire’s head was tilted, a amused look on his face.

 “This is all very nice and heartfelt,” he said, “but could we get onto the part where I kill Richie and then my friends eat the rest of you? Please.”

 “S-S-Shut up,” Bill yelled. “Y-Your f-f-friends aren’t h-here, and y-you have n-n-no backu-up.”

 “Do you really think I need any?” Mike asked.

 The Losers fell silent. Eddie knew that it wouldn’t be any problem for Mike to finish them off right now.

 “Actually,” a new voice growled. “He’s not alone. His friends are right here.”

 Eddie went rigid. Four shadows suddenly dropped from the ceiling, forming a barrier between the Losers and Mike. He realized with a jolt of terror that it was the rest of the Party; Lucas, Dustin, Will, and Jane, ready to help Mike finish what he had intended to do. He studied them over, and noticed Max was not with them.

 “Well, fuck,” Richie said.

 Lucas grinned. “What, did you _really_ think we didn’t know you would be coming? This was all an ambush. Mike was pretending to be oblivious the whole time. And you guys bought the act.”

 “Should have been an actor,” Jane said lovingly. She leaned into Mike’s side, her eyes fluttering shut when he placed a kiss to her forehead.

 Eddie felt like he was about to throw up.

 Bill took a hesitant step forward. His entire body shook with anger as he pointed at Will. “Y-Y-You were the o-o-one w-ho killed my b-b-brother,” he said with quiet fury. “Y-Y-You-”

 “What was t-t-that?” Will mocked. “B-B-Billy?” He laughed. “Yeah, I drained your brother. What do you want me to say? He was freaking delicious.”

 Bill charged at Will, but Dustin stepped forward and swatted the other boy away with inhuman strength. The vampires howled with laughter as Bill flew across the room, slamming into the wall.

 Stanley and Mike rushed over to help him. Eddie faced the Party, swallowing down his fear. “That wasn’t necessary,” he said. “You ruined his life. Do you know what Georgie’s death has done to his family?”

 “Shut up!” Will snapped.

 Eddie pressed on. “We heard how you tried to kill your older brother. Is that where it started? Do you have no care for your family at all? Or do you feel regret for hurting him, so you decided to take it out on someone else’s brother, instead?”

 Will snarled, baring his fangs. The Party were getting restless, their instincts beginning to outweigh their common sense.

 “Bill, are you okay?” Richie asked. He touched Bill’s arm as he hobbled over to them, Stanley and Mike by his side.

 “I-I-I’m fine.” He winced when he moved his back, but otherwise, he seemed okay. “F-F-Fine enough t-to kill these b-b-blood s-suckers.”

 “Not before we kill your first,” Lucas jeered.

 “Tell us where Beverly is and maybe we’ll go easy on you,” Richie yelled.

 “Oh, is that why your here?” Mike chuckled. “Don’t worry, she’s fine. She’ll be a prefect blood slave. I’m thinking we keep her alive for at least two weeks before finishing her off.”

 Bill looked like he was about to explode. He held up the baseball bat.

 “Who’s assigned to who?” Lucas asked.

 “I call dibs on the scrawny one,” Dustin said. “He doesn’t look like too much trouble.”

  _Your mistaken, then._ Eddie squared his shoulders and tilted his chin upward, gripping his stake tightly. If he was about to die, he wasn’t going down without a fight.

 “I want Richie,” Mike said. “He’s been annoying the hell out of me, and I want to end him now.”

 “You can’t hurt me!” Richie yelled. “I’m a radical boy, on a mission to save Santa Carla from your vampire ways!”

 Mike’s claws twitched. “I’m going to unzip your skin and wear you like a little coat!”

 “Oh yeah? Well, unzip _this_!” Richie put his left hand under his right armpit and made a farting noise.

 Eddie wanted to grab him by the throat, shove him to the ground, and slap him across the face for a full two hours straight.

 Mike roared, shooting forward. Chaos broke out, and Eddie was suddenly caught up in a huge fight against both groups of kids. He faintly saw Bill swiping the bat at Will. The young vampire was wiry and quick, nimbly jumping back and forth like a ninja. Next to him, Bill looked clumsy and oversized. Stanley was trying to fend off Jane, while Richie was charging at Mike with his stake held high, screaming “EAT DEATH, FUCKER!”

 “Stan!” Eddie yelled, when he saw Jane nearly snap his face off. He pulled his arm back and threw his stake toward him with all his might. Stanley caught it with ease, quickly swinging it around and catching Lucas’ arm on the end, who had been sneaking up on him. The other boy screamed, falling back as blood welled up from the wound.

 “Get over here, twerp!” Dustin’s lisp rose over all the yelling. Eddie turned and saw him running toward him, fangs glistening as he made for his throat.

 Eddie crouched, then jumped up, flinging his arms outward, remembering the self-defense move Richie had taught him. There was an outraged screech as he hit Dustin in the ribs, hard. His claws ran over Eddie’s arm, blood welling up from the five long marks. He bit down on his tongue, tears of pain rising in his eyes.

 “STOP!” Mike Hanlon’s deep voice boomed over everyone else. Eddie fell backwards, hitting the floor with an “Oof.” Everyone went silent.

 Mike had Will locked in a choke hold, his arm around the other boy’s neck. The barrel of his gun was against the side of his head.

 “Stop fighting, or I’ll shoot.” Mike’s eyes were steely and determined. “Don’t think I won’t do it.”

 The vampires froze, eyes wide in disbelief. Eddie was sure this was the first time he had seen fear in Will’s eyes. He struggled against Mike’s grasp, but it was no use; Mike would pull the trigger at any moment, and it was too big of a risk to attack him.

 “I won’t shoot him if you write down Beverly’s location,” Mike said. “Then let us leave safely. Refuse, and Will dies.”

 “Guys, don’t do it.” Will gasped for air as Mike tightened his arm. “Don’t, your putting Max in danger!”

 “Will, we aren’t going to let you die.” Mike Wheeler held up his hands. “We’re done. I’ll give you the address. Just let him go.”

 “No!” Will cried. He went to bite Mike’s arm, but Mike was quicker, throwing Will to the ground and pointing the gun straight at his heart. Eddie heard a _click_ as he cocked the hammer of it. There was a terrified gasp from the rest of the Party.

 “I’m giving you a countdown of five,” Mike barked. “Four. Three. Two-”

 “Alright, stop!” Lucas held a piece of paper in his hand. “I have some paper! I’m writing down the address!” He hurried over to a table in the corner, blood still dripping from his stake wound. Bill and Stanley jerked back when he passed them, but the vampire didn’t give them any mind. He placed the paper down, than reached into his coat and pulled out a pen. Eddie watched as he scribbled something down.

 Lucas picked the paper up and handed it to Bill. “Take it.” When Bill hesitated, he thrust it into his free hand. “I said take it! Just, when you get there-” He blinked, and Eddie could of sworn he saw his eyes well with tears. “Don’t hurt Max. Please. If anything were to happen to her, or Will, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”

 Bill stared down at the paper, then back at Lucas. His gaze did not soften. Without a word, he spung on his heel and marched to the warehouse door, shoving the paper into Richie’s hands.

 “Come on, Eddie.” Richie placed a hand on his shoulder. They walked out, but not before he shot Mike Wheeler a venomous glare. Mike Hanlon jogged after them, still holding the gun up in case any of the Party tried anything.

 “That was close,” Eddie whispered.

 “I hear you.” Richie sighed. “Wow, I feel super _fucking_ tripped out, right now. I almost got eaten, like, _twice_! Can you believe we’re actually fighting va-”

 He stopped short. Eddie froze, too, his mind going blank at what he was seeing. He felt a certain vertigo, as if someone had just sliced off his arms and legs.

 Standing in front of their taxi was a man. He had long blonde hair, with a faded green jacket and a red unbuttoned shirt, revealing his bare chest. Next to him was their driver, Larry. And the strange new man had his teeth buried in Larry’s neck.

 

 

 

 


	21. Chapter 21

 “Oh, god, Larry, no!” Richie started forward, but Eddie quickly stopped him. There was nothing they could do for the taxi driver, now. He was still alive, but barely; the man was drinking all of his blood.

 Two icy blue eyes shot upward as the man removed his teeth from Larry’s neck. He threw him to the ground and stepped forward, blood all over his mouth and chest.

 “Well, well, well.” He sounded young, in his early twenties. “What do we have here? A bunch of human kids breaking into _my_ warehouse? Not cool.”

 “And who the hell are you supposed to be?” Richie barked.

 The man grinned. “Name’s Billy Hargrove, kid. _Everyone_ knows who I am.”

 Eddie sucked in a sharp breath. He _did_ know who this man was. “Your Max’s brother,” he breathed. “I’ve heard people talking about you two in school.”

 “The King of Santa Carla High,” Richie said slowly, “is a vampire, _too_?” He threw his hands up in the air. “Where the fuck are all these vampires _coming_ from?!? Am I the only person who wants to know that?!?!”

 Billy’s eyes darkened. “I’m Max’s _step-_ brother,” he corrected. “Don’t think I enjoy being family with that little brat.”

 “Billy.” The Party walked out of the warehouse, making the Losers Club jump to the side. Mike looked furious to see him. “What are you doing here?”

 “Heard the commotion inside, decided to pitch in and help you assholes out.” Billy kicked Larry’s now-dead body with his foot. “Drank their taxi driver. Now they have no way to escape. So, your welcome.”

 “We can handle these losers on our own,” Jane said calmly. “You should go, _now_.”

 Billy laughed. “And miss out on all the fun? I don’t think so.” He stepped forward, looming over Eddie, Richie, Bill, Stanley, and Mike. “Look, I don’t know who you kids think you are or what your doing here, but like I said before, this is _my_ warehouse. This is _my_ town. And everything that belongs in this town belongs to _me_. You know what that means? It means your de-”

 He didn’t finish, because at that moment, there was a loud honking, and a car came zooming into Billy, sending him flying into the road. Eddie watched him sail through the air, mouth wide open in shock.

 The car window slid down, and a man similar to the age of Billy poked his head out. “Get in!” he yelled.

 Eddie didn’t waste any time. “Richie, come on!” he cried as he bolted over to the vehicle. Mike covered them with his gun as Bill got into the front and the rest of them piled into the back. Eddie slammed the car door closed, making sure the window was shut.

 “Buckle up!” The man turned to look at them. “This is gonna be a really bumpy ride!”

 “Remind us who you are again?” Richie asked. He fumbled with his seat belt. Eddie clicked his in, trying to help Richie. “Come on, come on, we have to go _now_!”

 “I’m moving as fast as I _can_!” Richie yelled.

 “Well, that’s not _good enough_!” Eddie snapped back.

 “Cut me some slack, this is my first time fearing for my life!”

 “If we get out of this alive, I swear to _God_ , Richie, I will kill you _myself_! Move _faster_!”

 There was a loud _bang_ on the window. Jane had thrown herself against it, her eyes red and her fangs visible. “HIIIIIIISSSSSSSSS!” went the vampire.

 “AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!” went Eddie and Richie.

 “STEP ON IT!” Stanley shrieked. The man hit the gas, sending Jane tumbling off the car as they sped away from the warehouse and down the road. Eddie could hear the Party’s furious yells disappear behind them.

 “You guys okay?” the man asked.

 “Y-Y-Yeah, we’re f-f-fine,” Bill said breathlessly.

 “Can you tell us who you are now?” Richie asked.

 The man went to smooth down his large head of hair. “ The name’s Steve Harrington. I’ve been told to get you five away from those vampires and bring you to the chief. I seriously don’t understand why you just waltzed in there with nothing but a gun and a bat.”

 “Hey, we have stakes, too!” Richie held his up, then looked at Stanley. “Stan, you still have Eddie’s-oh, nope, nevermind, he dropped it. We only have one.” He shook his head. “Typical Stanley.”

 “And why should we trust you?” Mike said, speaking through the the furious shouting as Stanley and Richie went back and forth at each other like angry badgers. “How do we know your not a vampire, too?”

 Steve shrugged. “The police chief knew you were going after those vampires, so he sent me to get you guys out and bring you to the safe house. You really should trust me, because I’m the only reason you dipshits are alive right now. And look, just so you guys know,” he turned his head and smiled, showing his teeth. “No fangs. I kill monsters, not become them. Now shut up and let me focus on driving.”

 Loud honking from behind them. They all looked through the back window, spotting a car chasing them down, Billy Hargrove at the wheel and the Party in the back.

 Not a good sign.

 “Give us the kids, Harrington!” Billy yelled.

 “Damn, I hate this guy,” Steve muttered. He pushed down harder on the pedal, the car revving loudly.

 “We’re going to die,” Richie was muttering. “I can’t fucking believe this. I am going to be fucking drained by an immortal mosquito. I am going to die.”

 “We aren’t going to die,” Mike said.

 “You don’t know that!” Richie said.

 “R-R-Richie, c-c-calm down,” Bill spoke.

 “Calm down! Calm _down_? You want _me_ to calm down? I will _not_ calm down, don’t tell _me_ to calm-”

  _THUMP_.

 They all froze. Eddie felt his heart stop for a second.

 “What was that?” Richie yelled.

 A clawed hand abruptly shattered through the window, swiping madly at Eddie’s face. They all screamed, Richie pulling Eddie backwards as Jane screeched, her face appearing as she attempted to reach them.

 “DO SOMETHING, DO SOMETHING!” Stanley cried. There was utter chaos. Adrenaline pumped through Eddie’s system as he pulled his inhaler out of his pocket, shook it, and held it in front of Jane, spraying the medicine into her face.

 Jane screamed out in agony. She clawed at her eyes as she fell off the car, disappearing as they left her behind.

 “Shit, you guys okay?” Steve asked. “Did she get you?”

 “N-No.” Eddie shakily brushed the small shards of glass off of his lap. “We’re fine.”

 “I’m GOING to have FUCKING PTSD AFTER THIS!” Richie bellowed.

 “Sit tight, we’re almost there.” Steve checked the rearview mirror. “Looks like they doubled back to get Jane. We’re in the clear.”

 They all let out breaths of relief. Eddie fell back against the car seat, closing his eyes and sighing deeply. His entire body ached, as if he had just ran all the way to Derry and back again.

 “R-R-Richie, do you h-h-have the address?” Bill asked.

 Richie reached into his pocket and pulled out the crumpled piece of paper. “Yeah.” He squinted at it. “It says Bev’s at-” He sucked in a sharp breath.

 “Well?” Bill said. “W-W-What does it s-s-say?”

 Richie looked up fearfully. “It’s the house on Neibolt Street.”

 They were all silent. “Where?”

 “The house.” Richie jabbed a finger at the paper. “You know, that old mansion that’s falling apart by the ocean? That’s where their keeping Bev.”

 “Isn’t that place condemned?” Stanley said.

 “E-Exactly. I-I-It’s the p-p-perfect place to k-k-keep her.” Bill leaned forward. “S-S-Steve, g-g-get us to N-N-Neibolt Street.”

 “Woah, woah, not a chance.” Steve shook his head. “I promised the chief I’d get you shitheads to the safe house in one piece and that’s exactly what I’m gonna do.”

 “B-B-But Bev is in t-t-trouble!” Bill protested. “S-S-She could be d-d-dead! You h-h-have to listen to m-m-mu-me!”

 “Kid, I’m sorry, but your just going to have to wait.” Steve looked apologetic, but unswayed. “We’ll get to her, I promise.”

 Bill get out a frustrated yell, holding his head in his hands. Eddie felt bad for him; he was just as worried about Beverly as he was. He couldn’t imagine what she must be going through right now.

 “Where are we going?” Mike asked.

 “To the safe house,” Steve replied.

 “You keep saying the safe house as if we should know where the safe house is,” Richie said.

 Steve sighed. “We’re going to the police station. There, happy?”

 “Not really,” Richie answered. “The police station is definitely not what I had in mind when you said safe house.”

 Steve let out a noise that sounded like a cross between an angry cat and a mournful cow.

 “T-T-The minute w-w-we get t-there, we h-head out to f-f-fu-find Bev.” Bill gave Steve a steely look. “U-U-Understand?”

 Steve didn’t answer at first. “When we go to find your friend is up to the chief,” he said simply.

 “You know, I’m really getting freaking tired of hearing about this chief guy,” Richie growled. “Care to tell us what his name is?”

 “I don’t have to.” Steve relaxed his foot from the pedal. “He can tell you himself.”

 They pulled into the police station driveway, the headlights winking off as Steve shut the car down. As they all got out, Eddie spotted two figures standing in front of the building’s door.

 One was a tall, scruffy-looking man with an old hat on, a shiny badge that read “SANTA CARLA POLICE CHIEF” pinned to his faded uniform. The other was a woman with wavy brown hair, her tired eyes watching the kids with uncertainty. She held a lighted cigarette between her fingers, reminding Eddie of how Will always held his cigarettes.

 Chief Hopper had his arms across his chest, looking down at the Losers like a reprimanding father. “Get inside,” he said. “We have a lot to talk about.”

 

 


	22. Chapter 22

“What the hell were you two thinking?” Hopper yelled. “Going by yourselves into a warehouse filled with vampires, with nothing to protect yourselves with except one stake? Are you out of your goddamn minds?”  
 Eddie and Richie sat in the two worn out chairs that faced the police chief’s desk, heads bowed like two children being scolded for stealing candy from a store. Richie had the nerve to mumble, “We _had_ two stakes, but Stanley lost one of them.”   
 “I don’t care if _Stanley_ lost one of them.” Hopper leaned forward on his desk, hands spread out as he glared at each of them. “You two could’ve been killed. If Steve hadn’t gotten to you on time-“   
 “If your daughter and her creepy friends had just left us alone, we wouldn’t even be in this mess!” Richie retorted. “What the fuck is up with that, anyway? Your the _dad_ of that monster? How can you sleep at night knowing she’s out there killing innocent people and feeling absolutely no remorse for it?”   
 Hopper shot daggers at him as he spoke in an attempted calm tone. “I didn’t want to let her become a vampire. They’ll kill me if I speak out against them.”   
 “So your a coward,” Richie said.   
 Hopper’s nostril’s flared. “Did I say that?”   
 “Kinda sounded like you did.” Richie sat forward, gaining confidence. “Your a coward because your afraid you’ll die. You rather protect your own sorry ass than save the people of this town!”   
 “You have a lot of nerve talking to me like that, kid,” Hopper growled through gritted teeth.   
 “Hey, newsflash!” Richie squawked obnoxiously. “Your not my fucking _dad_!”   
 The atmosphere of the room was stifling, as if Richie and Hopper were two male wolves trying to assert their dominance over each other. Eddie squirmed uncomfortably in his chair, feeling the need to ease the tension. “How did Steve even know where to find us?”   
 “Your friend Ben Hanscom called us up when you two went missing. Your lucky it was me who answered the phone and not another officer, or you and your friends would be dead right now.”   
 “So we should be thanking Ben, not you,” Richie said.   
 “I’m not asking you to thank me, kid.”   
 “Than don’t expect me to!” Richie got up and stomped to the door, throwing it open.   
 “Hey!” Hopper barked. “I didn’t say you could leave! Get back here!”   
 Richie ignored him, slamming the door shut as he left. Eddie glanced back at Hopper, unsure if he should follow Richie or not.   
 Hopper sighed, collapsing into his chair and rubbing his face. “Your friend is trouble,” he said.   
 “So is your daughter,” Eddie said back.   
 “She never used to be like that,” he murmured. “None of them were. It was the Wheeler kid that started it all. The moment Jane met him, she started to change, even before he bit her. When I found out she was going to let him turn her, I tried to get her away from him. But it didn’t work.” He sighed again. “She threatened to kill me if I ever told anyone about them. Made me promise to keep my mouth shut. And that’s what I did. I did what I had to do.”   
 “And people suffer for it,” Eddie said, thinking of Bill and his family.   
 Hopper gave him a sullen look. “Can’t find a cure to vampirism if I’m dead, kid. There’s a method to my madness.”   
 Eddie understood that. He fidgeted with his hands, hesitant to ask a question. “Can I ask you something?”   
 Hopper waved his hand. “Go ahead.”   
 “How many people besides Jane has Mike turned? Did he turned the rest of his friends, too?”   
 Hopper shrugged. “He turned Jane and he turned Will. I only know about Byers because his mom told me. He may have turned the others, but I’m not sure about that. All I know was that he was the first one.”   
 “But that doesn’t make any sense,” Eddie mused. “If Mike turned Jane and Will, and if he also turned Lucas, Dustin, and Max...than who turned Mike?”   
 Hopper looked at him with tired eyes. “How the hell am I supposed to know, kid, you think I’m a wizard or something?”   
 Eddie was silent. He got up slowly, then walked over to the door. “I better go see what’s happening with the others.” He took the doorknob, then stopped. Turned to look at Hopper.   
 He was shuffling through some papers, seemingly unaware that he was staring at him. Eddie felt something deep inside of him shift angrily at how nonchalant adults could act when bad things were happening because they were too scared to stop them. Sometimes, and it was often, grown ups could be the real monsters.   
 “Your daughter sucks.”   
 Hopper didn’t look up at him. “I know, kid,” he said wearily. “I know.”   
 Eddie waited for him to say more, but when he didn’t, turned and left the room, slamming the door shut.   
  
 Joyce Byers was a frail looking woman who sat with her legs crossed and her eyes wide. Next to her was Jonathan Byers, her oldest son, a tall, pale man with messy hair and dark bags under his eyes that made him look like he needed a two-month nap. He was quietly talking to a young woman, who Eddie found out was Nancy Wheeler, Mike’s older sister. Steve stood by the door to the police station, watching her and Jonathan speak with a look that Eddie could only guess meant the three of them had a complicated past.   
 “So, your a vampire, too?” Stanley was saying to Jonathan. They all had been startled to hear that Will’s brother was also a vampire, but Hopper had quickly assured them that Jonathan was on their side.   
 “Half-vampire,” Jonathan replied. “I’m not a full one, yet. It takes time.”   
 “Did Will turn you?” Mike asked.   
 “We heard he attacked you under the pier.”   
 “How did you survive?”   
 Jonathan winced. Nancy put a gentle hand on his arm, and he gave her a grateful smile. “He was going to kill me at first. Had me torn up and everything. But at the last moment, he turned me. I didn’t know why then, and I still don’t know why, now. I don’t even know why he wanted to kill me in the first place.”   
 Eddie watched his eyes water, feeling sorry for him. Beside him, Richie was glaring at Hopper like a hawk.   
 “How’s your arm?” Richie asked him.   
 “Fine.” Eddie tugged lightly at the bandages that covered the claw marks Dustin had made. “It doesn’t hurt, anymore. Nancy says it’s not deep and it should heal fine.”   
 Richie nodded. “Good.” He looked at Eddie with unhappy eyes. “I’m sorry I couldn’t stop him. You shouldn’t have gotten hurt.”   
 “It’s okay.” Eddie shrugged. “It was bound to happen.”   
 The two of them sat in silence for a while, until Eddie whispered, “Your getting way too angry about this.”   
 “Yeah, I should be.” Richie’s voice dripped with ice. “Beverly’s still missing, your injured, and here we are boo-hooing over Mr. Self-Pity and how evil his demonic brother is. We need to go fix all of this now.”   
 “I hear you.” Eddie looked at Bill, who was pacing back and forth in the corner of the room. “Bill will come with us.”   
 “So will Ben,” Richie said.   
 “But we don’t even know where Ben is.”   
 At that moment, there was a loud knocking on the front door. Everyone jumped. Eddie watched with nervous eyes as Steve peeked out of the window.   
 “It’s some kid,” he said.   
 That did not make any of them feel better. “What does he look like?” Hopper asked.   
 Steve peeked back out of the window. “Brown hair, brown eyes, chubby...”   
 “That’s Ben!” Mike said. He stood up. “Let him in, Steve.”   
 “Speak of the devil,” Richie muttered fondly as Steve unlocked the door and opened it. Ben came tumbling in, panting hard as his eyes lit up at the sight of his friends.   
 “Guys!” The Losers all went over to Ben and embraced. Ben looked relieved, his smile getting wider and wider. “I’m so glad your all okay!”   
 “We’re alive thanks to you, Haystack,” Richie patted him on the shoulder. “You really saved our asses back there.”   
 Ben grinned. “A-And Beverly-?”   
 His smile fell when he saw them all grow solemn. “She wasn’t there,” Eddie said.   
 “B-B-But w-we do k-k-know where s-she i-is.” Bill held out the piece of paper with the address on it.   
 Ben took it and read it over. “The Neibolt House?” he said. “But why would she be-oh.” A look of understanding passed over him. “They tried to trick us.”   
 Eddie nodded. “If you hadn’t called the police and gotten Steve to find us, their trick would have worked.”   
 Ben shook his head, his shoulders slumping. “I’m glad your all okay,” he said. “But I wish Beverly had been there.”   
 Eddie wished she had been at the warehouse, too. It would have made things a whole lot better.   
 “We need to go to the Neibolt House,” Ben said. “We have to get to Bev before the Party kills her.”   
 “Hold up,” Hopper started. He stepped forward. “We need to discuss this.”   
 “There is no discussion,” Eddie said. “We’re going, with or without your help.”   
 “I didn’t say you weren’t going,” Hopper said. “But your not going tonight.”   
 “What do you mean, not tonight?” Richie demanded. “Beverly might not have another night! We need to go now!”   
 “R-R-Richie’s r-right.” Bill placed his hands on his hips. “I-I-I’m d-done being a-afraid. W-W-We’re d-doing this t-t-tonight.”   
 “It’s too dangerous,” Jonathan murmured. “They won’t hesitate to kill you. Beverly will be fine. I know from experience that they will probably keep her alive for a few weeks.” He sighed. “I know too well.”   
 “Do you know Will killed my brother?” Bill blurted out.   
 They all went still. Bill took in a shuddering breath, as if talking about Georgie physically pained him. He looked straight into Hopper’s eyes. “I will never see him again because of Will. You don’t know what I saw under that pier.” He looked at Joyce, then Nancy, then Jonathan, and finally Steve. “You don’t have to come with me. None of you do. Not even my friends. But I just want you to know what it’s like for me. Everyday, I go home and I go into Georgie’s room, and everything’s there but him. His toys. His clothes. His stupid stuffed animals. They’re all there. But he isn’t. And people tell me to get over it, and people tell me it was two years ago, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t let him go. Not when I have to see the person who killed him sitting by me in the cafeteria every single day.”   
 He turned to Eddie and the others, and there was a determined, unfaltering look in his eyes, as if ocean had filled him with all of its fury and the bravery of a lion was now in his veins. “What happens when another Georgie goes missing? What happens when the missing posters keep getting tacked up? What happens if we go to that house tonight and find Beverly dead? Are you going to ignore it just like everyone else in this town? Because I can’t.”   
 He paused, letting his words sink in. Then he looked back at Hopper. “So going to Neibolt Street, and going into that house, will be easier than going into my own. Because at least I will know that I won’t expect Georgie to be there, just like I do when I go into my house, every day.”   
 And with that, Bill left, grabbing his spiked baseball bat and heading outside. The Losers all looked at each other and followed him out, not even bothering to see if the adults were with them.   
 “Wow,” Richie whispered.   
 Eddie looked at him. “What?”   
 His friend’s glasses were misty as he stared at Bill with a whole new light in his eyes. “He didn’t stutter once.”   
  


	23. Chapter 23

 29 Neibolt Street was a bleak, rotting house that sat on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. Once it had been a beautiful home that the wealthy and famous could rent out, but after a deadly earthquake, it was deemed uninhabitable due to the cliff being damaged. It stood out like a bug bite, black and blistery, it’s weathered, eaten away wood and nightmarish appearance making it a favorite spot among locals to explore, especially on Halloween.

 Eddie had heard that whoever went in there never came out. Many of the people missing in Santa Carla, mostly children, had met their ill-fated end in the house, from what the reports said. He now knew why.

 “So your telling me we _don’t_ have to kill the Party?” Steve was saying to Ben as they all piled out of his car and grabbed their weapons and supplies. Eddie quickly went through his backpack, making sure everything he needed was there: a new wooden stake given to him by Ben back at the police station, a first-aid kit, his inhaler and pills, a walkie-talkie connected back to the police station, where the other adults could tune in to them in case things went wrong, and, for some reason, fresh socks. Eddie didn’t know why he needed clean socks. He just thought it might be necessary.

 “Yes,” Ben answered. “I don’t think Mike is the Head vampire. I think someone else, someone older maybe, turned him, then ordered him to turn the others. There’s someone else that we need to kill to turn the Party back into humans.”

 “W-W-We should s-s-still kill t-thu-them,” Bill said. “T-They d-deserve it.”

 “You got that right.” Richie slammed the car trunk shut and threw the spiked baseball bat to Bill, who caught it. “I’m killing Mike the minute I get the chance. No mercy. Just some good ol’ fashioned revenge.”

 “Since when do you have anything to be vengeful about?” Eddie asked him.

 Richie’s eyes darted to his bandaged arm. “They hurt you. They hurt Bill. They’ve kidnapped Bev, and have killed tons of people. I have every right to be vengeful.”

 “Wow,” Stanley said dryly. “So tough. Yeah, you’ll really scare the pants off of them.”

 “Hey, Staniel, I just had a great idea!” Richie exclaimed. “We can use you as bait! You have the perfect body for a vampire to suck dry! They’ll see you as a treat!”

 Stanley rolled his eyes and walked over to Mike, who was busy loading his gun.

 “You guys ready?” Steve asked when they had gotten everything they needed. “There’s no turning back.”

 “Remember, we don’t want to start a ruckus,” Mike told them. “We’re just here to save Beverly. Only kill if you have to. But try to be as quiet as you can.”

 “I have a bad feeling about this,” Stanley muttered.

 “Zoinks, Scoob, looks like we’ve got another mystery on our hands!” Richie chattered.

 They were so busy yelling at him to shut up, they didn’t even notice Henry Bowers watching them from his car not too far away, bloodlust and hunger sparking in his insane eyes.

 

 The house was disgusting. The interior was horrible, filled with old, decrepit furniture, papers and trash, and puddles of brown, musty water. The smell caused Eddie to gag, and he had to stop for a second and breath into his inhaler just to stop the feeling of his lungs collapsing onto themselves and to make his heart stop beating so hard.

 “How can anything live here?” Mike asked.

 “They’re vampires,” Richie answered. “They don’t care where they live. It doesn’t affect them.”

 The sound of Bill’s walkie-talkie buzzing to life startled Eddie. His friend unclipped it from his belt and pressed down on the speak button.

 “H-H-Hello?” he called. “T-T-This is B-Bu-Bill. Who’s c-c-calling?”

 The walkie-talkie whined again. “This is Hopper. Just checking in to make sure you guys are okay. Have you found Beverly, yet?”

 “N-N-No,” Bill said. “W-Wu-We just g-got into t-the h-house.” He looked around the house. “N-No vampires e-e-either.”

 “If you get attacked, radio me,” Hopper said. “I’ll come with Jonathan. Make sure to be safe.”

 “W-We w-will. O-Over and o-out.” Bill shut off the walkie-talkie, then clipped it back on his belt.

 They stood there for a second. “What now?” Eddie asked.

 “We search the house.” Steve wiped his hands on his pants, eyes darting all over the place. “Find Beverly. Then get out.”

 “Got it.” Richie clapped his hands. “Chop, chop, people! Let’s get this search started!”

 Everyone ignored him. Eddie fell into stride with him as the two of them began exploring the house.

 “How can you act so carefree in a situation like this?” he asked him.

 Richie sighed. “It’s all a trick, Eds. You hide your fear by acting like a loudmouthed idiot and somehow you forget what you were afraid of for a while.”

 Eddie watched the chipper attitude leave Richie like a candle flickering out. “We’re all afraid, Richie. Why wouldn’t we all be afraid of vampires?”

 Richie gripped the old handrail as they began to climb the stairs leading to the second floor. “It’s not the vampires I’m afraid of, Eddie,” he whispered softly.

 It was such an un-Richie-like thing to say, Eddie had to stop walking for a moment to recover from his mild shock. “Richie, are you okay?”

 “Hm?” Richie turned to him and smiled, his old self returning. “Oh, I’m fine, Eds, I’m great! Come on, we got a party of vampires to hunt!”

 Eddie watched him prance off, then slowly followed. He never really knew if he would ever truly understand Richie Tozier.

 He found nothing interesting on the second floor. Just a bunch of random rooms with old furniture in them. One had a flea-bitten mattress, the other a room filled with very old, very creepy clown dolls. He hoped to god that they were left over from some teenager last Halloween, and that none of the Party had a weird obsession with collecting scary clown statues.

 “Eddie.” Richie called out to him from another room.

 Eddie followed his voice. His friend was ridged, locked in a straight stance. “Look,” he said.

 Eddie walked to his side, following the beam of light that the flashlight Richie had brought with him was making.

 Illuminated in the soft beam was a pile of human bones.

 “Holy shit,” Eddie whispered.

 There were footsteps behind them. They both whirled around, nerves on edge as who they thought were the Party came up behind them.

 Instead, they were met with the familiar faces of Stanley and Bill. Eddie let his breath come whooshing out of his mouth. “Don’t ever fucking do that again,” he scolded.

 “S-S-Sorry,” Bill said. “W-Wu-We didn’t mean to s-s-scare you.”

 Stanley was staring at the bones. “P-Please tell me those are just old Halloween decorations,” he said shakily.

 “I don’t know,” Eddie said. “If they are, then it might be things the Party uses to scare kids away.”

 “And if they aren’t?”

 Eddie was too disturbed by the answer to say it.

 “T-T-They w-were definitely h-here.” Bill wouldn’t take his eyes off the remains. “L-Let’s k-keep looking.”

 They all started for the stairs, then froze when they heard an agonized yell from the first floor.

 “What was that?” Eddie cried.

 “It sounded like Mike!” Stanley answered.

 “That’s because it _was_ Mike, genius!” Richie ran for the stairs. “Come on!”

 They pelted after him, running down the steps and practically skidding into the main room of the first floor. Eddie gasped at what he saw.

 A man was holding Mike up by the throat, eyes shining like two beady rubies as his mouth opened to show two long, sharp fangs. Mike was scrabbling at the stranger’s throat, choking for breath as he kicked desperately at the man’s stomach. Steve lay on the floor not far away, unconscious, and Ben was in a corner, large claw marks ripped through his shirt.

 “Mike!” they all yelled. “Ben!”

 The man’s head snapped toward them. An insane, wicked grin spread across his face. Eddie heard Bill stammer “B-B-Bowers!”

 Richie wrenched the spiked bat out of Bill’s grip, bolted forward, and slammed it into the man’s head. He stumbled a little, looking slightly dazed by the blow. It was enough to make him drop Mike.

 Eddie and Stanley rushed forward, helping him to his feet, while Richie and Bill went to Ben. Mike was gulping in deep pools of air, touching his neck as if needing to prove to himself that it still existed. Eddie saw red marks running down his skin, but they didn’t look bad, not as bad as they could have been.

 “Who the hell is this asshole?” Richie asked.

 “Henry Bowers!” Stanley said. “He’s a guy who loves to torment us for no reason! Beverly used to date him, until something happened and they fell out!”

 “Beverly dated _this guy_?” Eddie gaped.

 “Yeah! After they broke up, he started bullying us. Him and his gang, the stuff they’d do would become more and more violent as the time passed! He only stopped when Patrick Hockstetter, his friend, went missing. After that, he would spend all his time at the bar!”

 “You know a lot more about me then I’d like you to, faggot,” Henry growled.

 They all turned to face him, Mike recovering enough to stand on his own, and Ben holding onto Richie. Henry hissed, mad eyes darting from one of them to another.

 “I’m here to kill you,” he said.

 “You’ve already made that known,” Richie interrupted.

 “Shut up!” Henry bared his teeth. “I never asked for this. That girl, she did this to me. Broke my neck. Sucked my blood. Turned me into monster.” He gestured to himself, then laughed. “Though, I guess I’ve always been a monster. Don’t need fangs to be a bad guy.”

 “He has a point,” Richie murmured to Bill.

 “That girl, she told me something, before I passed out.” Henry stepped closer to them. “She said, kill them. Kill them all. When you wake up, kill them all.”

 “Is Steve dead?” Stanley asked.

 “No,” Henry replied. “She never said to kill him. She said to kill _you_.” He cackled. “Time to bring the sheep to the slaughterhouse!”

 And then, he launched right for them.

 Richie knocked him away with the bat again. There was once again chaos. Eddie watched Henry shoot back up, ready to attack a second time. His eyes were glued to Mike as he bared his teeth and barreled for him.

 Mike ran, unclasping his gun. Henry seemed to be targeting him specifically. Eddie yelled to Bill. “We have to kill him!”

 “W-W-Where’s y-your s-s-stake?” Bill asked.

 Eddie took off his backpack and pulled out the weapon. He ran behind Henry, careful to watch out for his claws, and jumped onto his back, plunging it into his skin as deep as it would go, with all of his strength.

 Henry roared. He knocked Eddie off with so much force it knocked the breath out of him. He toppled to the floor, groaning as pain shot up his bandaged arm.

 There was a _thump_ , and Henry was leering over him, the vampire’s foul breath slamming into his face like a shovel. Eddie coughed, his lungs beginning to feel as if the air was rapidly fizzling out of them like a balloon.

 Henry smiled. “After I kill you, I’ll kill your little friends, too. Say goodnight, loser.”

 It was the most horrifying thing Eddie had ever seen. Henry’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as his fangs extended outward and he prepared to plunge them into his neck. He could hear his friend’s screaming, could hear Richie bellowing his name, and all he could do was stare at Henry like a statue, frozen in fear’s petrifying grip.

 And then, a loud _bang_ rang through his ears, making everything else go silent.

 Henry’s entire body jolted. His eyes went wide, and the red glow from them flickered momentarily.

 Dark red blood dripped onto Eddie’s abdomen. But it wasn’t from him.

 Mike stood behind Henry, his gun pressed into the vampire’s spine. His face was beaten and slick with sweat. His hand was shaking slightly.

 No one moved. No one spoke. It was as if time had stopped, if only for a second. The spell was broken when Henry rolled off of Eddie with a moan.

 Richie was at his side before Eddie could even blink. His friend helped him up as the other Losers crowded around Henry.

 He was laughing, to Eddie’s surprise. A large wound had formed where the silver bullet had burrowed itself into his chest. Blood was rapidly draining out of it as his dimming eyes struggled to stay open.

 “You losers are...trying too hard,” Henry panted. “They’ll do you. They got Patrick, they got Vic and Belch, and they got me. Why should...you seven...be any different?”

 Mike’s eyes were angry. “Because unlike you, we don’t deserve it.”

 And then, he held up with gun to Henry’s head, and pulled the trigger.

 Henry’s entire body began to thrash, as if he were having a seizure. His eyes went white as a loud hissing noise rose up from his head. With one last, final shriek, the vampire was gone, his body abruptly going limp, as fast as he had started to spaz out.

 Henry Bowers was dead.

 They all watched his body, just to make sure that the bullets had done their job. Only when they heard Steve groan did they turn around.

 “W-What happened?” he stuttered. Steve struggled to his feet, stumbling a little as he rubbed his head.

 “You got knocked out by a vampire,” Richie explained. “But don’t worry, Mike killed him.”

 Steve’s eyes wandered to Henry’s body, and his jaw dropped. “O-Oh.”

 “Are you guys alright?” Eddie asked Mike and Ben. “Ben, are you hurt?”

 Ben looked down at his stomach, touching the rips in his shirt. “He didn’t cut my skin, thank god. I think he wasn’t aiming to kill me like that.” He breathed out. “He just came out of nowhere. One minute Mike, Steve, and I are searching around, the next Steve is unconscious, I’m nearly mauled, and Mike is being suffocated.”

 “I-I-I’m glad y-you guys a-are o-okay,” Bill said. “W-W-We m-managed to g-gu-get rid of h-him b-before a-any r-ru-real damage w-was d-d-done.”

 “Jesus, Eds,” Richie murmured. He pulled Eddie into a tight hug, squeezing him hard. “He nearly killed you. He nearly fucking got you. I thought you were going to die.”

 Eddie hugged him back, cheeks going red. “I’m fine, Richie. I’m okay. He didn’t get me, and that’s what matters.”

 Richie let go of him and smiled. His eyes were wet with tears. “I’m so glad your safe.”

 They all sighed, happy to be alive. Bill shifted and took the spiked bat from Richie. “B-Bev is s-s-still o-out there.”

 “Should we keep looking?” Eddie asked him.

 “O-O-Of c-c-course,” Bill answered. “N-Nobody’s h-hurt. W-W-We c-can s-still f-fu-find Bev.”

 “Guys,” Stanley said quietly. “I think I might know where they’re hiding her.”

 They all looked at him. “Where?” Ben said.

 Stanley motioned for them to follow him. They all walked into a dirty, horrible room they was filled with furniture and an old refrigerator. Eddie got a weird chill when he glanced at it, the outdated machine giving him the creeps for some reason.

 “In there,” Stanley said. He was pointing to another room, a door with a staircase. They went down it, into what seemed like a basement.

 In the center of the basement was a large, crumbling stone well.

 “Why is there a well in an abandoned hotel?” Richie questioned.

 “I don’t know,” Stanley said. “But I think it leads somewhere. I think it leads to where the Party are keeping Beverly.”

 They all stared at the well. It sat there, waiting patiently, almost beckoning them to come and explore its insides.

 Eddie would rather face off a hundred vampires than crawl down that well. He did not want to find out what was in there.

 Apparently Bill didn’t feel the same way. He stepped forward and looked at all of them. “A-A-Alright. W-Who h-has s-some r-r-ru-rope?”

 

 A spy was watching the Losers Club as they descended into the well. Will Byers gritted his teeth, clenching his hands as he looked away from the humans to Henry’s dead body. Useless. Utterly useless. It hadn’t mattered how violent the young man was, he had still managed to be killed by a seventeen-year-old sheep boy.

 He raised his wings and fluttered off, sweeping away from the Neibolt House and towards the town. Keeping low as to not be seen by anyone, he quickly made his way for the warehouse, where the others were waiting.

 Mike was pacing when he flew in and landed. The other vampire stopped short, eyes lighting up with hope. “Did he kill them?”

 Will shook his head. “No. He was shot in the back by the Hanlon kid. The guy’s got silver bullets.”

 Mike’s shoulders drooped. “How the hell did he _not_ succeed? How the hell did _Mike Hanlon_ get silver bullets?”

 Will shrugged. “I don’t know. All I know is that Henry failed.”

 “Shit.” Mike growled. He snarled out his anger, eyes flaring red.

 “Oh dear, what’s happening now?” Dustin said as he walked down from the top floor. “I’m guessing Henry didn’t do the job?”

 Will shook his head. “The Losers killed him. Even worse, they found the well.”

 “ _WHAT?_ ” Mike screamed.

 Will winced. Dustin held up his hands. “Dude, calm down. Max is still there to stop them.”

 “WHAT IS MAX GOING TO DO?” Mike bellowed. “HENRY COULDN’T STOP HIM, SO HOW CAN SHE?” He whirled around and smashed his hand into the wall, sending cracks spidering up it.

 “You know, I think I’m just going to go up and make sure Lucas’ stake wound is healing properly with Jane.” Dustin took a step back. “You, uh, you two have fun.”

 “Don’t leave me here!” Will whispered fiercely, grabbing his arm as he went to leave. “You know how he gets when he’s upset like this!”

 “Your the only one besides Jane who can calm him down.” Dustin wrenched his arm out of his grasp. “Make sure he doesn’t cause the whole warehouse to collapse on us.”

 Will licked his lips, then hesitantly stepped over to Mike’s heaving figure. “M-Mike?”

 “What?” Mike snapped.

 Will fumbled away a little. “D-Don’t let this get to you. Max will be fine. The humans won’t kill her.”

 “I could care less about what happens to Max,” Mike said. “The plan was supposed to be Henry killing them. And now, we’re going to have to go kill them ourselves.”

 “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

 “You know what will happen if we go over there. You know who will find out.”

 “Your the Head vampire, Mike.” Will put a hand on his shoulder. “Your in charge, not him.”

 Mike moaned. “That’s just a self-proclaimed title I gave myself, Will, you know I’m not the real Head vampire.”

 “He’s not the boss of us. He doesn’t control our actions. He may say we’re his “sons and daughters,” but he doesn’t know how wrong he is.”

 Mike sighed, shoulders relaxing as Will stepped closer to him. “God, Will, the world’s driving me crazy.”

 “Well, if the world’s going to drive you crazy, then it’ll have to drive me crazy, too. And we can go crazy together.”

 “Yeah.” Mike smiled softly, his anger slowly fizzling out. “Crazy together.”

 They stood there, together. Will felt a feeling of intense longing build up inside of him as he stared into Mike’s eyes. His undead heart began to beat much faster than it should have been when he noticed his friend’s gaze flicker to his lips.

 “Hey, uh, Mike?” Dustin was running down the stairs and over to them. “There’s something you might want to-” He stopped short when he saw the two of them, gaping. “Oh. Uh, are you two, um, busy?”

 “Dammit, Dustin, what do you want?” Mike jerked away from Will, the two boys immediately scooting away from each other.

 “Um, sorry.” Dustin blinked. “I thought you’d like to know that we have a visitor.”

 “A visitor?” Mike’s eyes narrowed. “Who?”

 Before Dustin could reply, a trio of loud knocks sounded on the warehouse doors. Will jumped, fear beginning to creep into his veins as he saw Dustin’s features turn into a look of terror.

 Only one person would ever knock on their door that boldly.

 “Mike,” Dustin breathed. “Head vampire Brenner is here.”

 

 


	24. Chapter 24

 The descent into the well was long and tedious. Mike had brought some rope with them (“In case we need to kidnap a vampire,” he had said, to everyone’s puzzlement) and after finding something sturdy to tie it to, let it drape down into the darkness. Since the well was too narrow and small, they all had to go down two at a time, Eddie going first, since he was the smallest, with Richie following him shortly after. Bill was shining his flashlight down into the well as they climbed in, so they would at least have a little light.

 “Don’t look down,” Richie was mumbling to himself. “Don’t look down. There’s nothing here, nothing on the walls, no bugs, no spiders, no spiders on the walls no spiders no wait shit THERE’S A SPIDER ON THE WALL FUCK SPIDER ON THE WALL SPIDER ON THE WALL!”

 “Will you shut _up_?” Eddie snapped up at him. “There are no spiders on the wall! It’s just your imagination!”

 “Oh, since when has Mr. Oh-Dear-The-Germs-Are-Gonna-Kill-Me suddenly become immune to crawling into small spaces covered in slime and cobwebs? Don’t tell me your seriously _not_ grossed out by all this!”

 In truth, Eddie felt like was going to puke. His elbows had brushed against the wet stone walls at least five times, and he occasionally felt as if there was something weird crawling on his legs. There was no sound except his own breathing and the faint _drip, drip_ of old rain water. He hated to admit it, but Richie’s yelling and caterwauling was making him feel more secure about doing this. It was better than hearing absolutely nothing.

 “How are you guys doing down there?” Steve yelled. “Everything alright?”

 “Yep, everything’s just peachy!” Richie yelled back up at him. “We haven’t died, yet!”

 “Let us know when you get to the bottom! Stan and Bill will head down next!”

 “Stanley is _not_ going to enjoy this,” Richie muttered.

 “Shhh!” Eddie said. “I think I heard something!” He stopped shimmying, tilting his head to hear better.

 There was a faint windy sound coming from the bottom of the well. Along with it was a strong scent of the ocean. Eddie smiled. “I think we’re at the bottom!”

 He let out a cry of relief when his feet hit solid ground. Eddie let go of the rope and took a step back, staring at the well. Down here, wherever here was, it looked more like a stone tunnel dropping out of a cave wall.

 Richie came next, stumbling a little as he let go of the rope. He adjusted his glasses, peering around. “Woah. Are we in a cave?”

 “I think so.” Eddie turned in a circle. The large chamber they had come into was a huge room with rippling stone walls and large stalactites hanging down from the ceiling like dragon teeth. Pools of water the size of small ponds dotted the the cave here and there, and Eddie was glad to see there was a way out besides going back up the well; an entrance, roped off with yellow tape, leading to the beach.

 “Is this place below the Neibolt House?” Richie asked.

 “It seems like it,” Eddie answered. “It looks like the well is a sort of side entrance to it. Maybe this is where the Party hide their prey.”

 There was a loud grunt as Stanley slid out of the well tunnel and hit the cave floor. He winced, rubbing his back as he stood up. Bill came shortly after, followed by Ben, Mike, and Steve.

 “Jesus, I haven’t been in here in ages,” Steve muttered as they took a look around the cave. “Lotta memories here, that’s for sure.”

 “You’ve been in here?” Ben said.

 “When I was a freshman.” Steve looked at the ground and kicked a few pebbles. “We would sneak in here and have parties during the summer. I took Nancy to one. I don’t think she liked it very much.”

 “Were there any signs of vampires while you were here?” Mike questioned.

 “No.” Steve shook his head. “It was perfectly safe. To us, at least. We stopped the parties after a bunch of Nazi surfers or whatever were found torn apart in here by police.”

 There was a pause. Eddie looked around the cave, trying not to imagine what Steve had just said. Only when Bill started speaking did he manage to push the idea of being eaten by vampires out of his mind.

 “L-L-Let’s s-start s-searching,” he said. “B-Bu-Beverly must b-be around h-here. If you f-fu-find her, s-scream.”

 “Screaming might not be the best thing to do down here,” Eddie murmured. He started walking around, Richie at his heels as usual, the two of them looking for any sign of Beverly.

 “You think she’s really down here?” Richie asked him.

 “I can’t think of anywhere else she might be.”

 “I know. I agree. It’s just-” Richie sighed. “I’m worried. What if this is another trap?”

 “It can’t be,” Eddie insisted. “The trap was back in the house with Henry. The Party thought he’d be able to take care of us for them.”

 “Too lazy to go out and kill their own prey.” Richie scoffed. “Typical.”

 Eddie peered into a corner, squinting to see if he could make out anything. There seemed to be a smaller cave built into the wall. It was just big enough for him to fit into, it looked, so it was possible Beverly could be hiding in there.

 “Beverly,” he whispered. When there was no response, he spoke louder. “Beverly, are you in there? It’s me, Eddie!”

 Silence. Nothing. Eddie shook his head and turned back to Richie. “She’s not in here.”

 Richie was about to say something, when Ben crying out cut him off. “Guys, guys I found her!” They looked at each other, then bolted, running back over to where the rest of the Losers were crowded.

 Ben was kneeling next to a very bruised, very battered-looking Beverly. Her blue eyes were red-rimmed and tired as she struggled to sit up. “B-Ben?” she mumbled, blinking as she peered up at him.

 Ben was crying. He smiled through the tears as he hugged Beverly tight. “Bev, it’s me. We found you. We came to rescue you.”

 Beverly coughed, allowing him to help her up. “You all really came.” She stared at Bill, then laughed. “You guys found me. Thank god, you found me.”

 “W-What happened?” Bill asked. “H-H-How did t-they get you?” He went to hug her, holding her close. “I-I-I was so worried t-they killed y-yu-you, Bev.”

 “They wanted to use me to lure the rest of you here,” Beverly said. “That’s what Max said. She was here with me the entire time.” She looked down at her leg, poking a metal chain attached to her ankle. “She trapped me here, then just abruptly left. Told me not to move. As if I wasn’t chained up already.”

 “Jesus, they _chained_ you?” Steve looked shocked by this. “They really have lost all the humanity in them, haven’t they?”

 “Why are you so surprised?” Mike asked.

 “I’ve known Max and her little group of friends since they were in first grade. They weren’t always like this. They used to be normal, they used to be just regular kids. Like you guys.” He took the spiked bat from Bill and raised it over his head. “Stand back.”

 They did. Bill held Beverly’s hand as Steve brought the bat down on the chain. It broke easily, snapping in half with a _chink_. After Beverly was free, they worked the clamp off of her ankle, and tossed it away.

 “Alright, we found Beverly. Now let’s get out of here.” Steve pointed to the cave entrance to the beach. “That’s the easiest way. Let’s go.”

 They ran, stumbling out of the cave into the sunlight. Mike smacked the yellow police tape away as they ventured out, blinking madly as their eyes adjusted to the setting sun’s rays.

 “What do we do now?” Eddie said.

 “Radio Hopper and tell him we found our missing person. Then head back to the police station and figure out what to do from there.” Steve pointed the bat at Ben. “If what you say is true, and we can turn Max and her friends back into humans, than we gotta find a way to do it, and quickly.”

 “W-Well, it might be hard,” Ben stammered. “You need the vampire who first turned them, the Head vampire. Once you know who it is, you have to kill them with a wooden stake as the sun is rising, with all the vampires they’ve turned with them. I read it in a book, I’m not sure if it’s even re-”

 A sharp scream from Bill’s walkie-talkie made them all jump. There was a burst of static, then more electric shrieks and warbles. Bill grabbed it and held it out in front of him as if it were possessed, pressing down on the speak button. “H-H-Hello?” he called. “H-Hopper? J-Joyce?”

 More noises from the walkie-talkie. Hopper’s voice came through. “Kid,” he said. “You gotta get back to the police station, now.”

 “W-Whu-What?” Bill said. “Why?” When there was no answer, he shook the walkie-talkie slightly, like that would make Hopper respond. “H-Hopper, what’s g-g-going on?”

 “They’re coming for you, kid!” Hopper’s tone rose in a panicked pitch. “They’re coming for you and your friends! I’m watching them right now!”

 “Ohhhh, shit,” Richie said. “Oh shit, oh shit, oh fuck, we gotta go, we gotta go!” He took off on the beach, running for a rickety flight of stairs leading back up to the Neibolt House. Eddie ran after him, lungs and legs almost instantly protesting as he pushed himself to run like he didn’t have asthma. Hopper was still yelling as the others followed them.

 Evening was rapidly descending on them as they rushed into the car. Beverly was coughing as Steve shoved his keys into the ignition outlet and the vehicle hummed to life. The Losers were all thrown against each other as he stepped on the gas and peeled away from the abandoned mansion with a screech. Eddie coughed along with her, puffing his inhaler to catch his breath.

 “Max must have known Henry failed,” Mike said. “She went to get the rest of the Party. We’re doomed.”

 “No, we’re not,” Ben said. “All we have to do is camp out in the police station until sunrise. Then we can change them back into humans.”

 “Do we even know who the Head vampire is?” Beverly managed to sputter out through her hacking.

 Ben looked lost. “Uh-”

 “Mike Wheeler,” Stanley murmured.

 They all looked at him. Bill was twisting his neck to stare at him from the front passenger seat. “W-W-What?”

 Stanley raised his head slightly. “Mike Wheeler. He’s the Head vampire. He’s the one who started it all. Think about it. They all follow his orders. He’s their leader. Everything that’s been planned by them points to him.”

 “Uh, I’m not sure that’s-” Eddie started.

 “Of course.” Bill smacked his forehead. “I-I-It has t-t-to be M-Mike. W-W-Why didn’t I t-think of t-that before?”

 “I thought it might have been Will, but now that you mention it, Mike being the Head vampire does make sense,” Beverly said.

 “Guys, I don’t think it’s-” Eddie tried to say.

 “So all we have to do is kill Mike, and the rest of the Party turns human?” Mike Hanlon asked. “The killings will stop?”

 “Wait,” Ben rushed in. “Mike _can’t_ be the Head vampire. I said it back at the Neibolt House. Someone else turned him. It’s the only possible-”

 “Ben, before you start saying anything that’s _probably_ wrong, let’s look at the facts here.” Richie started counting off on his fingers. “Mike Wheeler is a creepy teenage vampire dude that bosses around a bunch of other creepy teenage vampire dudes. He stalks us, orders his friends to watch us, tries to _kill_ us _multiple_ times, and also happens to be behind a town-wide mystery of missing people and bloody remains.” He splayed his hands out in exasperation. “Did I make my point?”

 Ben sank into himself a little. “Yeah, I guess.”

 “A-A-Alright, new plan, t-then,” Bill said. “L-L-Lure the Party somewhere. K-K-Kill M-Mike W-Wheeler. T-Turn then b-bu-back into h-humans.” His gaze hardened. “It’ll be much more easier to deal with Will when he’s not immortal, anymore.”

 “You don’t stutter when your really angry, do you?” Richie observed.

 Bill didn’t answer, only shrugged and turned away.

 They were silent as the car spend onward. Eddie felt Richie’s fingers intertwine with his, squeezing his hand lightly. He squeezed back, feeling somewhat secure knowing Richie was with him.

 However, killing Mike Wheeler still just didn’t seem right.

 He sighed. What did he know? Was Mike really the Head vampire? Or was Ben and him right, and there was another blood-sucking freak on the loose in Santa Carla besides the Party?

 He didn’t know. They were about to find out.

 Night blackened the sky as the lights of the town promised nothing but fear to look forward to. It took Eddie a moment to realize that the moon was a dark blood-red.


End file.
